CVE-2021-4002

Exp

A memory leak flaw in the Linux kernel's hugetlbfs memory usage was found in the way the user maps some regions of memory twice using shmget() which are aligned to PUD alignment with the fault of some of the memory pages. A local user could use this flaw to get unauthorized access to some data.

Published: 2022-03-03 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2021-4002 is rated Exploit Available (50/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.52%). Core evidence: 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Mandatory action: Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2021-4002

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2021-4002

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.01% 0.52% +0.51%
2 2025-03-30 0.06% 0.01% -0.05%
3 2025-03-29 0.06%

Full EPSS history (7 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-4002

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
4.4 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
1.8 2.5 [email protected]
3.6 2.0 LOW
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
3.9 4.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-4002

OS Trackers for CVE-2021-4002

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2021-4002 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2021-4002
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-4002
suse medium https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-4002/
ubuntu high CVE-2021-4002 high priority: Ubuntu including 167 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner, …), 2101 status rows across 15 suites (bionic, focal, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1627, released 227, not-affected 199, ignored 48. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-4002

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-4002

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel < 5.16 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.16 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.16:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.16 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.16:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.16 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.16:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 9.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 10.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 35 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:35:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle communications_cloud_native_core_binding_support_function 22.1.3 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_cloud_native_core_binding_support_function:22.1.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle communications_cloud_native_core_network_exposure_function 22.1.1 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_cloud_native_core_network_exposure_function:22.1.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle communications_cloud_native_core_policy 22.2.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_cloud_native_core_policy:22.2.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-4002

URL Tags
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2025726 Issue Tracking Third Party Advisory
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=13e4ad2ce8df6e058ef482a31fdd81c725b0f7ea Patch Vendor Advisory
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=a4a118f2eead1d6c49e00765de89878288d4b890 Patch Vendor Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2022/03/msg00011.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2022/03/msg00012.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://www.debian.org/security/2022/dsa-5096 Third Party Advisory
https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2021/11/25/1 Exploit Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpujul2022.html Patch Third Party Advisory
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