🛡️ CVE-2025-21869 — kernel

🟠 CVSS 7.8 — High ✅ No Known Exploit NVD
7.8
CVSS Score
0 Low4 Medium7 High9 Critical10

Description

powerpc/code-patching: Disable KASAN report during patching via temporary mm

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

powerpc/code-patching: Disable KASAN report during patching via temporary mm

Erhard reports the following KASAN hit on Talos II (power9) with kernel 6.13:

[ 12.028126] ==================================================================

[ 12.028198] BUG: KASAN: user-memory-access in copy_to_kernel_nofault+0x8c/0x1a0

[ 12.028260] Write of size 8 at addr 0000187e458f2000 by task systemd/1

[ 12.028346] CPU: 87 UID: 0 PID: 1 Comm: systemd Tainted: G T 6.13.0-P9-dirty #3

[ 12.028408] Tainted: [T]=RANDSTRUCT

[ 12.028446] Hardware name: T2P9D01 REV 1.01 POWER9 0x4e1202 opal:skiboot-bc106a0 PowerNV

[ 12.028500] Call Trace:

[ 12.028536] [c000000008dbf3b0] [c000000001656a48] dump_stack_lvl+0xbc/0x110 (unreliable)

[ 12.028609] [c000000008dbf3f0] [c0000000006e2fc8] print_report+0x6b0/0x708

[ 12.028666] [c000000008dbf4e0] [c0000000006e2454] kasan_report+0x164/0x300

[ 12.028725] [c000000008dbf600] [c0000000006e54d4] kasan_check_range+0x314/0x370

[ 12.028784] [c000000008dbf640] [c0000000006e6310] __kasan_check_write+0x20/0x40

[ 12.028842] [c000000008dbf660] [c000000000578e8c] copy_to_kernel_nofault+0x8c/0x1a0

[ 12.028902] [c000000008dbf6a0] [c0000000000acfe4] __patch_instructions+0x194/0x210

[ 12.028965] [c000000008dbf6e0] [c0000000000ade80] patch_instructions+0x150/0x590

[ 12.029026] [c000000008dbf7c0] [c0000000001159bc] bpf_arch_text_copy+0x6c/0xe0

[ 12.029085] [c000000008dbf800] [c000000000424250] bpf_jit_binary_pack_finalize+0x40/0xc0

[ 12.029147] [c000000008dbf830] [c000000000115dec] bpf_int_jit_compile+0x3bc/0x930

[ 12.029206] [c000000008dbf990] [c000000000423720] bpf_prog_select_runtime+0x1f0/0x280

[ 12.029266] [c000000008dbfa00] [c000000000434b18] bpf_prog_load+0xbb8/0x1370

[ 12.029324] [c000000008dbfb70] [c000000000436ebc] __sys_bpf+0x5ac/0x2e00

[ 12.029379] [c000000008dbfd00] [c00000000043a228] sys_bpf+0x28/0x40

[ 12.029435] [c000000008dbfd20] [c000000000038eb4] system_call_exception+0x334/0x610

[ 12.029497] [c000000008dbfe50] [c00000000000c270] system_call_vectored_common+0xf0/0x280

[ 12.029561] --- interrupt: 3000 at 0x3fff82f5cfa8

[ 12.029608] NIP: 00003fff82f5cfa8 LR: 00003fff82f5cfa8 CTR: 0000000000000000

[ 12.029660] REGS: c000000008dbfe80 TRAP: 3000 Tainted: G T (6.13.0-P9-dirty)

[ 12.029735] MSR: 900000000280f032 <SF,HV,VEC,VSX,EE,PR,FP,ME,IR,DR,RI> CR: 42004848 XER: 00000000

[ 12.029855] IRQMASK: 0

GPR00: 0000000000000169 00003fffdcf789a0 00003fff83067100 0000000000000005

GPR04: 00003fffdcf78a98 0000000000000090 0000000000000000 0000000000000008

GPR08: 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000

GPR12: 0000000000000000 00003fff836ff7e0 c000000000010678 0000000000000000

GPR16: 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 00003fffdcf78f28 00003fffdcf78f90

GPR20: 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 00003fffdcf78f80

GPR24: 00003fffdcf78f70 00003fffdcf78d10 00003fff835c7239 00003fffdcf78bd8

GPR28: 00003fffdcf78a98 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 000000011f547580

[ 12.030316] NIP [00003fff82f5cfa8] 0x3fff82f5cfa8

[ 12.030361] LR [00003fff82f5cfa8] 0x3fff82f5cfa8

[ 12.030405] --- interrupt: 3000

[ 12.030444] ==================================================================

Commit c28c15b6d28a ("powerpc/code-patching: Use temporary mm for

Radix MMU") is inspired from x86 but unlike x86 is doesn't disable

KASAN reports during patching. This wasn't a problem at the begining

because __patch_mem() is not instrumented.

Commit 465cabc97b42 ("powerpc/code-patching: introduce

patch_instructions()") use copy_to_kernel_nofault() to copy several

instructions at once. But when using temporary mm the destination is

not regular kernel memory but a kind of kernel-like memory located

in user address space.

---truncated---

How this vulnerability can be exploited

This issue can be reached with local access to the system, attack complexity is low, an attacker needs low-level privileges on the target. No user interaction is required. The scope is unchanged, so the impact stays within the vulnerable component. Rated impact: confidentiality high, integrity high, availability high.

Affected software

CVE-2025-21869 is recorded against 2 packages.

  • kernel (from 6.13.0 up to 6.13.5)
  • linux-kernel

Timeline and source

Published on 27 March 2025 and last revised on 12 August 2026. No public exploit is currently recorded for this entry. A vendor advisory or fix has been published. Record sourced from NVD.

References

git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
github.com (Advisory)
nvd.nist.gov (Advisory)
git.kernel.org (Package)

CVE-2025-21869 on other distributions

Each distribution ships its own build and its own fixed version. Pick the one you run:

Details

Severity High
CVSS Score 7.8
CVSS Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CWE N/A
Public Exploit ✅ No
Source NVD
Published 2025-03-27
Updated 2026-08-20
Modified 2026-08-12

Affected Packages

Software From version Fixed in
kernel 6.13.0 6.13.5
linux-kernel — —

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