Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HSummary
CVE-2025-21999 is a high-severity Use After Free (CWE-416) vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).
Operationally, 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 CM-5 (Access Restrictions for Change) and AC-3 (Access Enforcement) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-9588
Vulnerability Data
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: proc: fix UAF in proc_get_inode() Fix race between rmmod and /proc/XXX's inode instantiation. The bug is that pde->proc_ops don't belong to /proc, it belongs to a module, therefore dereferencing it…
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after /proc entry has been registered is a bug unless use_pde/unuse_pde() pair has been used. use_pde/unuse_pde can be avoided (2 atomic ops!) because pde->proc_ops never changes so information necessary for inode instantiation can be saved _before_ proc_register() in PDE itself and used later, avoiding pde->proc_ops->... dereference. rmmod lookup sys_delete_module proc_lookup_de pde_get(de); proc_get_inode(dir->i_sb, de); mod->exit() proc_remove remove_proc_subtree proc_entry_rundown(de); free_module(mod); if (S_ISREG(inode->i_mode)) if (de->proc_ops->proc_read_iter) --> As module is already freed, will trigger UAF BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: fffffbfff80a702b PGD 817fc4067 P4D 817fc4067 PUD 817fc0067 PMD 102ef4067 PTE 0 Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP KASAN PTI CPU: 26 UID: 0 PID: 2667 Comm: ls Tainted: G Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996) RIP: 0010:proc_get_inode+0x302/0x6e0 RSP: 0018:ffff88811c837998 EFLAGS: 00010a06 RAX: dffffc0000000000 RBX: ffffffffc0538140 RCX: 0000000000000007 RDX: 1ffffffff80a702b RSI: 0000000000000001 RDI: ffffffffc0538158 RBP: ffff8881299a6000 R08: 0000000067bbe1e5 R09: 1ffff11023906f20 R10: ffffffffb560ca07 R11: ffffffffb2b43a58 R12: ffff888105bb78f0 R13: ffff888100518048 R14: ffff8881299a6004 R15: 0000000000000001 FS: 00007f95b9686840(0000) GS:ffff8883af100000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: fffffbfff80a702b CR3: 0000000117dd2000 CR4: 00000000000006f0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 Call Trace: <TASK> proc_lookup_de+0x11f/0x2e0 __lookup_slow+0x188/0x350 walk_component+0x2ab/0x4f0 path_lookupat+0x120/0x660 filename_lookup+0x1ce/0x560 vfs_statx+0xac/0x150 __do_sys_newstat+0x96/0x110 do_syscall_64+0x5f/0x170 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e [adobriyan@gmail.com: don't do 2 atomic ops on the common path]
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Restricts rmmod (module removal) so that a module providing proc_ops cannot be unloaded while its PDEs are still being instantiated by concurrent lookups.
Enforces that inode operations on /proc entries only succeed when the owning module's proc_ops remain valid, blocking the post-rmmod dereference.
Applies memory-protection mechanisms that can detect or block the invalid dereference of freed module memory during proc_get_inode.
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.
Secure SDLC practices directly incorporate memory-safety tooling and reviews that prevent most use-after-free defects.
Vulnerability identification processes can discover use-after-free issues via scanning or analysis but do not prevent their introduction.
Routine patching removes known use-after-free instances after they have been introduced in released software.
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.
Security testing in development can detect use-after-free bugs before release.
Secure SDLC mandates memory-safety practices that reduce use-after-free defects.
Application security requirements can specify memory-management rules that mitigate use-after-free.
Secure architecture principles include memory-safety design choices that limit use-after-free exposure.
Secure coding standards directly prescribe avoidance of use-after-free patterns.
Change-management processes help ensure memory-safety fixes are deployed consistently.