decode_compound_hdr() in fs/nfs/nfs4xdr.c adds the taglen supplied by the server to a pointer and then dereferences it, but does not first check taglen for sanity: p = xdr_inline_decode(xdr, 8); ...; hdr->taglen = be32_to_cpup(p); ...; p = xdr_inline_decode(xdr, hdr->taglen + 4); ...; p += XDR_QUADLEN(hdr->taglen); hdr->nops = be32_to_cpup(p); The second xdr_inline_decode() limits the opportunities for an attacker-controlled pointer dereference, but a taglen of 0xfffffffc will cause a kernel page fault. I've attached a program that tickles the bug on my kernel 5.15 machine: # uname -a Linux (none) 5.15.0-rc7-dirty #15 SMP Thu Nov 4 19:20:36 UTC 2021 riscv64 riscv64 riscv64 GNU/Linux # cc nfs_1.c # ./a.out mount:mount.nfs: timeout set for Thu Jan 1 00:02:12 1970 mount.nfs: trying text-based options 'vers=4.2,addr=127.0.0.1,clientaddr=127.0.0.1' accept returned 4 proc 0 proc 1 exception pc=0xffffffff8022dcd8 cause=d symbolic tval=0xffffffe102c5aad8 [ 16.101267] Unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address ffffffe102c5aad8 [ 16.112762] Oops [#1] [ 16.116973] Modules linked in: [ 16.122429] CPU: 0 PID: 60 Comm: mount.nfs Not tainted 5.15.0-rc7-dirty #13 [ 16.131634] Hardware name: ucbbar,riscvemu-bare (DT) [ 16.138694] epc : decode_compound_hdr+0x96/0x12e [ 16.146706] ra : decode_compound_hdr+0x82/0x12e [ 16.154151] epc : ffffffff8022dcd8 ra : ffffffff8022dcc4 sp : ffffffd00057b6e0 ... [ 16.272291] status: 0000000200000121 badaddr: ffffffe102c5aad8 cause: 000000000000000d [ 16.282369] [] decode_compound_hdr+0x96/0x12e [ 16.290699] [] nfs4_xdr_dec_exchange_id+0x32/0x57e [ 16.299265] [] rpcauth_unwrap_resp_decode+0x12/0x1a [ 16.307926] [] rpcauth_unwrap_resp+0x12/0x1a [ 16.316196] [] call_decode+0x112/0x176 [ 16.323488] [] __rpc_execute+0x76/0x216 [ 16.330751] [] rpc_execute+0x58/0x7e [ 16.337966] [] rpc_run_task+0x12c/0x16c [ 16.345113] [] nfs4_run_exchange_id+0x1d8/0x262 [ 16.353364] [] _nfs4_proc_exchange_id+0x24/0x2ba [ 16.361556] [] nfs4_proc_exchange_id+0x30/0x50 [ 16.369829] [] nfs41_discover_server_trunking+0x1c/0xa8 [ 16.378421] [] nfs4_discover_server_trunking+0x7c/0x1e8 [ 16.386958] [] nfs4_init_client+0x92/0xf6 [ 16.394014] [] nfs_get_client+0x36a/0x394 [ 16.401147] [] nfs4_set_client+0xd6/0x13e [ 16.410346] [] nfs4_create_server+0xb8/0x208 [ 16.421493] [] nfs4_try_get_tree+0x16/0x4c [ 16.432759] [] nfs_get_tree+0x34a/0x3ac [ 16.442283] [] vfs_get_tree+0x18/0x88 [ 16.451889] [] path_mount+0x4f4/0x77a [ 16.461619] [] do_mount+0x4c/0x7e [ 16.470833] [] sys_mount+0xca/0x14e [ 16.480401] [] ret_from_syscall+0x0/0x2