CVE-2025-21869
Published: 27 March 2025
Summary
CVE-2025-21869 is a high-severity Out-of-bounds Write (CWE-787) vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 11.8th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 RA-5 (Vulnerability Monitoring and Scanning) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation).
Threat & Defense at a Glance
Threat & Defense Details
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI
Timely remediation by applying the specific kernel patches that disable KASAN reports during powerpc temporary mm code patching directly eliminates the out-of-bounds write vulnerability exploitable via BPF JIT.
Vulnerability monitoring and scanning identifies Linux kernels on powerpc architectures running vulnerable versions affected by CVE-2025-21869, prioritizing remediation efforts.
Receiving and disseminating security alerts and directives about this kernel flaw ensures organizations are informed and can implement patches to mitigate BPF-triggered kernel memory corruption.
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Local kernel vulnerability (out-of-bounds write in powerpc code patching during BPF JIT) directly enables exploitation for privilege escalation to achieve arbitrary code execution from low-privileged user context.
NVD Description
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…
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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---
Deeper analysisAI
CVE-2025-21869 is a vulnerability in the Linux kernel's powerpc code-patching subsystem, specifically involving improper handling of KASAN (Kernel Address Sanitizer) reports during instruction patching with a temporary memory management context for Radix MMU. The issue manifests as a user-memory-access write violation detected by KASAN in the copy_to_kernel_nofault function, triggered during BPF JIT compilation. It affects powerpc architectures, such as POWER9 on systems like Talos II, and was observed in kernel version 6.13. The vulnerability stems from commits that introduced temporary mm usage and batched instruction patching without disabling KASAN checks, leading to accesses to kernel-like memory mapped in user address space. It is classified under CWE-787 (Out-of-bounds Write) with a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.8.
A local attacker with low privileges (PR:L) can exploit this vulnerability with low attack complexity (AC:L) and no user interaction (UI:N), as indicated by the CVSS vector AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H. Exploitation occurs by loading a BPF program via the sys_bpf syscall, which invokes bpf_int_jit_compile, bpf_jit_binary_pack_finalize, and ultimately patch_instructions on powerpc. This triggers the faulty copy_to_kernel_nofault operation during code patching, potentially allowing high-impact confidentiality, integrity, and availability violations, such as kernel memory corruption or arbitrary code execution.
Kernel patches addressing this issue are available in stable trees via the referenced commits: 5980d4456dd66d1b6505d5ec15048bd87e8775e0, dc9c5166c3cb044f8a001e397195242fd6796eee, and ea291447a4031f3dac5c23d55bc83fe833820d84. These patches disable KASAN reports during patching operations using temporary mm to prevent the invalid memory access detection while ensuring safe instruction patching. Security practitioners should update affected powerpc Linux kernels to incorporate these fixes.
Details
- CWE(s)