CVE-2021-4454 | can: j1939: fix errant WARN_ON_ONCE in j1939_session_deactivate

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: can: j1939: fix errant WARN_ON_ONCE in j1939_session_deactivate The conclusion "j1939_session_deactivate() should be called with a session ref-count of at least 2" is incorrect. In some concurrent scenarios, j1939_session_deactivate can be called with the session ref-count less than 2. But there is not any problem because it will check the session active state before session putting in j1939_session_deactivate_locked(). Here is the concurrent scenario of the problem reported by syzbot and my reproduction log. cpu0 cpu1 j1939_xtp_rx_eoma j1939_xtp_rx_abort_one j1939_session_get_by_addr [kref == 2] j1939_session_get_by_addr [kref == 3] j1939_session_deactivate [kref == 2] j1939_session_put [kref == 1] j1939_session_completed j1939_session_deactivate WARN_ON_ONCE(kref < 2) ===================================================== WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 21 at net/can/j1939/transport.c:1088 j1939_session_deactivate+0x5f/0x70 CPU: 1 PID: 21 Comm: ksoftirqd/1 Not tainted 5.14.0-rc7+ #32 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.13.0-1ubuntu1 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:j1939_session_deactivate+0x5f/0x70 Call Trace: j1939_session_deactivate_activate_next+0x11/0x28 j1939_xtp_rx_eoma+0x12a/0x180 j1939_tp_recv+0x4a2/0x510 j1939_can_recv+0x226/0x380 can_rcv_filter+0xf8/0x220 can_receive+0x102/0x220 ? process_backlog+0xf0/0x2c0 can_rcv+0x53/0xf0 __netif_receive_skb_one_core+0x67/0x90 ? process_backlog+0x97/0x2c0 __netif_receive_skb+0x22/0x80

Published: 2025-03-27 Last update: 2025-10-28 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2021-4454 is rated Low Risk (25.6/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.20%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2021-4454

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 0.02% 0.20% +0.18%
2 2026-05-07 0.06% 0.02% -0.04%
3 2026-01-21 0.06%

Full EPSS history (4 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-4454

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H 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:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
1.8 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-4454

OS Trackers for CVE-2021-4454

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2021-4454 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-2021-4454
redhat low https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-4454
suse medium https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-4454/
ubuntu medium CVE-2021-4454 medium priority: Ubuntu including 158 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1551 status rows across 10 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1145, ignored 146, released 138, not-affected 121, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-4454

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-4454

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 5.4.138, < 5.4.232 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.10.56, < 5.10.168 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.13.8, < 5.14 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.14.1, < 5.15.93 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.16, < 6.1.11 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.14 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.14:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.14 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.14:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.14 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.14:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.14 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.14:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.14 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.14:rc7:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.2 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.2 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.2 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.2 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.2 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.2 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-4454

cvelogic Threat Intelligence