CVE-2025-21939

MEDIUM
Published Apr 1, 2025 Modified Oct 30, 2025 CWE-476

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: drm/xe/hmm: Don't dereference struct page pointers without notifier lock The pnfs that we obtain from hmm_range_fault() point to pages that we don't have a reference on, and the guarantee that they are still in the cpu page-tables is that the notifier lock must be held and the notifier seqno is still valid. So while building the sg table and marking the pages accesses / dirty we need to hold this lock with a validated seqno. However, the lock is reclaim tainted which makes sg_alloc_table_from_pages_segment() unusable, since it internally allocates memory. Instead build the sg-table manually. For the non-iommu case this might lead to fewer coalesces, but if that's a problem it can be fixed up later in the resource cursor code. For the iommu case, the whole sg-table may still be coalesced to a single contigous device va region. This avoids marking pages that we don't own dirty and accessed, and it also avoid dereferencing struct pages that we don't own. v2: - Use assert to check whether hmm pfns are valid (Matthew Auld) - Take into account that large pages may cross range boundaries (Matthew Auld) v3: - Don't unnecessarily check for a non-freed sg-table. (Matthew Auld) - Add a missing up_read() in an error path. (Matthew Auld) (cherry picked from commit ea3e66d280ce2576664a862693d1da8fd324c317)

Is your site exposed to CVE-2025-21939?

Run a free security scan — no signup, results in seconds.

CVSS v3.1 Score

5.5
MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Weakness Type (CWE)

CWE-476 CWE-476

Affected Products

Vendor Product
linux linux_kernel
linux linux_kernel
linux linux_kernel
linux linux_kernel
linux linux_kernel
linux linux_kernel
linux linux_kernel

References

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2025-21939? +
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: drm/xe/hmm: Don't dereference struct page pointers without notifier lock The pnfs that we obtain from hmm_range_fault() point to pages that we don't have a reference on, and the guarantee that they are still in the cpu page-tables is that the notifier lock must be held and the notifier seqno is still valid. So while building the sg table and marking the pages accesses / dirty we need to hold this lock with a validated seqno. However, the lock is reclaim tainted which makes sg_alloc_table_from_pages_segment() unusable, since it internally allocates memory. Instead build the sg-table manually. For the non-iommu case this might lead to fewer coalesces, but if that's a problem it can be fixed up later in the resource cursor code. For the iommu case, the whole sg-table may still be coalesced to a single contigous device va region. This avoids marking pages that we don't own dirty and accessed, and it also avoid dereferencing struct pages that we don't own. v2: - Use assert to check whether hmm pfns are valid (Matthew Auld) - Take into account that large pages may cross range boundaries (Matthew Auld) v3: - Don't unnecessarily check for a non-freed sg-table. (Matthew Auld) - Add a missing up_read() in an error path. (Matthew Auld) (cherry picked from commit ea3e66d280ce2576664a862693d1da8fd324c317) It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.5 (MEDIUM).
How severe is CVE-2025-21939? +
CVE-2025-21939 has a CVSS v3.1 score of 5.5 out of 10, rated MEDIUM. This is a medium-severity vulnerability that should be remediated as part of regular maintenance.
What products are affected by CVE-2025-21939? +
CVE-2025-21939 affects products from linux, specifically: linux_kernel. Check the affected products table above for specific version ranges.
How do I check if I'm vulnerable to CVE-2025-21939? +
You can use Secably's free Website Scanner to check your website for known vulnerabilities. For infrastructure scanning, use the Port Scanner to identify exposed services that may be affected. Check the vendor advisories linked above for specific patch and version information.

Related Vulnerabilities

Don't wait for an exploit

Scan your website for vulnerabilities like CVE-2025-21939 — free, no signup required.