CVE-2021-4158: Null Pointer Dereference

Published Dec 12, 2021
·
Updated

A NULL pointer dereference issue was found in the ACPI code of QEMU. A malicious, privileged user within the guest could use this flaw to crash the QEMU process on the host, resulting in a denial of service condition.

Other sources

A NULL pointer dereference was found in the ACPI code of QEMU. The flaw lies in hw/acpi/pcihp.c in pciwrite() where the bus pointer is used without checking if it's NULL, probably because an invalid selector was supplied. A malicious privileged user within the guest could use this flaw to crash the QEMU process on the host, resulting in a denial of service condition.

Upstream issue: https://gitlab.com/qemu-project/qemu/-/issues/770

Upstream patch: https://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/qemu-devel/2021-12/msg01491.html

Red Hat

Affected Software

4 affected componentsFixes available
redhat/qemu-kvm<17:7.0.0-13.el9
17:7.0.0-13.el9
Qemu Qemu>=6.0.0<7.0.0
redhat Enterprise Linux=9.0
debian/qemu
1:5.2+dfsg-11+deb11u31:5.2+dfsg-11+deb11u21:7.2+dfsg-7+deb12u121:10.0.0~rc3+ds-2

Remediation

Information

Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base or stability.

Event History

Dec 12, 2021
CVE Published
12:00 AM
Dec 22, 2021
Data Sourced
via Red Hat·05:07 PM
DescriptionSeverityAffected Software
Aug 24, 2022
CVE Published
via MITRE·03:10 PM
Data Sourced
via MITRE·03:10 PM
DescriptionWeakness
Jan 12, 2024
Data Sourced
via Launchpad·12:01 AM
Description
Sep 16, 2024
Data Sourced
via Ubuntu·01:45 AM
RemedyDescriptionSeverityAffected Software
Mar 31, 2025
Data Sourced
via Debian·01:07 AM
DescriptionAffected Software

Parent advisories

This vulnerability appears in the following advisories.

Frequently Asked Questions

1

What is the vulnerability ID for this issue?

The vulnerability ID for this issue is CVE-2021-4158.

2

What is the severity of CVE-2021-4158?

The severity of CVE-2021-4158 is medium.

3

What is the affected software for CVE-2021-4158?

The affected software for CVE-2021-4158 includes Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.0, qemu-kvm 17:7.0.0-13.el9, Ubuntu qemu 1:6.2+dfsg-2ubuntu5, and Ubuntu qemu 1:6.0+dfsg-2.

4

How can a malicious user exploit CVE-2021-4158?

A malicious, privileged user within the guest can exploit CVE-2021-4158 to crash the QEMU process on the host, resulting in a denial of service condition.

5

Is there a remedy available for CVE-2021-4158?

Yes, there are remedies available for CVE-2021-4158. Please refer to the official documentation and updates provided by your software vendor for the specific package versions mentioned.

Contact

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