CVE-2021-46990: Software Security Vulnerability Vulnerability

MODERATE
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-qg29-4gg5-8r2w
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CVSS 5.5
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2021-46990 is a MODERATE (CVSS 5.5) security vulnerability vulnerability (General Security Weakness) affecting Software libraries in the Maven ecosystem. Remediation is available in the latest vendor maintenance releases.

CVE-2021-46990 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2021-46990
GHSA Identifier GHSA-qg29-4gg5-8r2w
Severity MODERATE
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 5.5
CWE Classification General Security Weakness
Affected Product Software
Package Ecosystem Maven
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 5.5

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

Attack Vector Local (AV:L)
Attack Complexity Low (AC:L)
Privileges Required Low (PR:L)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Unchanged (S:U)
Confidentiality None (C:N)
Integrity None (I:N)
Availability High (A:H)

How to Fix CVE-2021-46990

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Software dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release: 

mvn dependency:tree

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Java application is affected by CVE-2021-46990, inspect your build dependencies using the Maven Dependency Plugin:

mvn dependency:tree

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Software in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than the patched release), your application is affected.

Note: The mvn dependency:tree command inspects the resolved dependency graph declared in your project's POM files; it does not perform automated security scanning or inspect runtime dynamic classpaths. Always verify runtime container classpaths and shaded JARs.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under General Security Weakness. In Software, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: powerpc/64s: Fix crashes when toggling entry flush barrier The entry flush mitigation can be enabled/disabled at runtime via a debugfs file (entry_flush), which causes the kernel to patch itself to enable/disable the relevant mitigations. However depending on which mitigation we're using, it may not be safe to do that patching while other CPUs are active. For example the following crash: sleeper[15639]: segfault (11) at c000000000004c20 nip c000000000004c20 lr c000000000004c20 Shows that we returned to userspace with a corrupted LR that points into the kernel, due to executing the partially patched call to the fallback entry flush (ie. we missed the LR restore). Fix it by doing the patching under stop machine. The CPUs that aren't doing the patching will be spinning in the core of the stop machine logic. That is currently sufficient for our purposes, because none of the patching we do is to that code or anywhere in the vicinity.

References

NVD — CVE-2021-46990 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-46990
git.kernel.org/stable/c/0b4eb172cc... WEB
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0b4eb172cc12dc102cd0ad013e53ee4463db9508
git.kernel.org/stable/c/0c25a7bb69... WEB
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0c25a7bb697f2e6ee65b6d63782f675bf129511a
git.kernel.org/stable/c/2db22ba4e0... WEB
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2db22ba4e0e103f00e0512e0ecce36ac78c644f8
git.kernel.org/stable/c/5bc00fdda1... WEB
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5bc00fdda1e934c557351a9c751a205293e68cbf
git.kernel.org/stable/c/8382b15864... WEB
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8382b15864e5014261b4f36c2aa89723612ee058
git.kernel.org/stable/c/aec86b052d... WEB
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/aec86b052df6541cc97c5fca44e5934cbea4963b
git.kernel.org/stable/c/d2e3590ca3... WEB
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d2e3590ca39ccfd8a5a46d8c7f095cb6c7b9ae92
git.kernel.org/stable/c/dd0d611705... WEB
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/dd0d6117052faace5440db20fc37175efe921c7d
git.kernel.org/stable/c/ee4b7aab93... WEB
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ee4b7aab93c2631c3bb0753023c5dda592bb666b

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2021-46990?
CVE-2021-46990 is a security vulnerability in Software classified as a security vulnerability vulnerability under General Security Weakness.
Which Software versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to current release patches.
What version fixes CVE-2021-46990?
Upgrading to current release patches (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2021-46990?
CVE-2021-46990 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.5 (MODERATE) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2021-46990?
CVE-2021-46990 is classified under General Security Weakness.
How can I check Maven dependencies for CVE-2021-46990?
Run the dependency tree command: 'mvn dependency:tree'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
View Raw JSON 
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  "id" : "GHSA-qg29-4gg5-8r2w",
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  "published" : "2024-02-28T09:30:37Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2021-46990" ],
  "details" : "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\npowerpc/64s: Fix crashes when toggling entry flush barrier\n\nThe entry flush mitigation can be enabled/disabled at runtime via a\ndebugfs file (entry_flush), which causes the kernel to patch itself to\nenable/disable the relevant mitigations.\n\nHowever depending on which mitigation we're using, it may not be safe to\ndo that patching while other CPUs are active. For example the following\ncrash:\n\n  sleeper[15639]: segfault (11) at c000000000004c20 nip c000000000004c20 lr c000000000004c20\n\nShows that we returned to userspace with a corrupted LR that points into\nthe kernel, due to executing the partially patched call to the fallback\nentry flush (ie. we missed the LR restore).\n\nFix it by doing the patching under stop machine. The CPUs that aren't\ndoing the patching will be spinning in the core of the stop machine\nlogic. That is currently sufficient for our purposes, because none of\nthe patching we do is to that code or anywhere in the vicinity.",
  "severity" : [ {
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  }, {
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  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ ],
    "severity" : "MODERATE",
    "github_reviewed" : false,
    "github_reviewed_at" : null,
    "nvd_published_at" : "2024-02-28T09:15:37Z"
  }
}