Security Resilience

CVE-2025-21810

Memory Safety in Linux Kernel 6.4 – 6.6.76

Published
27 February 2025
Modified
15 October 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0020 10th percentile
Risk Priority 55 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2025-21810 is a high-severity NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476) vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Application or System Exploitation (T1499.004); ranked at the 10th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SA-15 (Development Process, Standards, and Tools) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: driver core: class: Fix wild pointer dereferences in API class_dev_iter_next() There are a potential wild pointer dereferences issue regarding APIs class_dev_iter_(init|next|exit)(), as explained by below typical usage: // All members…

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of @iter are wild pointers. struct class_dev_iter iter; // class_dev_iter_init(@iter, @class, ...) checks parameter @class for // potential class_to_subsys() error, and it returns void type and does // not initialize its output parameter @iter, so caller can not detect // the error and continues to invoke class_dev_iter_next(@iter) even if // @iter still contains wild pointers. class_dev_iter_init(&iter, ...); // Dereference these wild pointers in @iter here once suffer the error. while (dev = class_dev_iter_next(&iter)) { ... }; // Also dereference these wild pointers here. class_dev_iter_exit(&iter); Actually, all callers of these APIs have such usage pattern in kernel tree. Fix by: - Initialize output parameter @iter by memset() in class_dev_iter_init() and give callers prompt by pr_crit() for the error. - Check if @iter is valid in class_dev_iter_next().

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1499.004 Application or System Exploitation Impact
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities that can cause an application or system to crash and deny availability to users.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

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CVE-2024-50058Same product: Linux Linux Kernel

Affected Assets

linux
linux kernel
6.4 — 6.6.76 · 6.7 — 6.12.13 · 6.13 — 6.13.2

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation (including static analysis) directly finds null-dereference bugs before deployment.

Documented development standards and tools can enforce null-safety rules and safe pointer usage.

Engineering principles can mandate defensive coding such as explicit null checks before dereference.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
blocks

Secure SDLC practices (static analysis, code review, safe coding standards) directly prevent NULL dereference bugs during development.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

finds

Security testing can detect NULL dereference defects before release.

prevents

Secure coding standards directly require NULL-pointer checks and safe dereference patterns.

References