CVE-2021-38160: In drivers/char/virtio_console.c in the Linux kernel before 5.13.4, data corruption or loss can be triggered by an untrusted device that…

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

• debian debian linux10.0
• debian debian linux9.0
• linux linux kernel4.10 and later · before 4.14.240
• linux linux kernel4.15 and later · before 4.19.198
• linux linux kernel4.20 and later · before 5.4.134
• linux linux kernel5.5 and later · before 5.10.52
• linux linux kernel5.11 and later · before 5.12.19
• linux linux kernel5.13 and later · before 5.13.4

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

• CVE-2026-31431crypto: algif_aead - Revert to operating out-of-placeKEV
  90Now
• CVE-2022-0847A flaw was found in the way the "flags" member of the new pipe buffer structure was lacking proper initialization in copy_page_to_iter_pipe…KEV
  89Now
• CVE-2021-22555Heap Out-Of-Bounds Write in Netfilter IP6T_SO_SET_REPLACEKEV
  85Now

Published before and after this one in the same product

• ← EarlierCVE-2021-3679Aug 5, 2021 · A lack of CPU resource in the Linux kernel tracing module functionality in versions prior to 5.14-rc3 was found in the way user uses trace…
  22Monitor
• ← EarlierCVE-2021-3655Aug 5, 2021 · A vulnerability was found in the Linux kernel in versions prior to v5.14-rc1.
  13Monitor
• Later →CVE-2021-38166Aug 7, 2021 · In kernel/bpf/hashtab.c in the Linux kernel through 5.13.8, there is an integer overflow and out-of-bounds write when many elements are…
  31Monitor

Root cause

When data is copied, the source length is not compared with the size of the destination buffer. Excess data overwrites adjacent memory.

A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

1char buf[256];2memcpy(buf, pkt->data, pkt->len);

1char buf[256];2if (pkt->len > sizeof(buf)) {3  return -EINVAL;4}5memcpy(buf, pkt->data, pkt->len);

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.