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Fencer Vulns
high 7.8

CVE-2025-21693 json

mm: zswap: properly synchronize freeing resources during CPU hotunplug

published 2025-02-10 20 mo ago modified 2026-08-05 3 mo ago also EUVD-2025-2642

cvss
7.8
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.2%
EPSS 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 10%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

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

mm: zswap: properly synchronize freeing resources during CPU hotunplug

In zswap_compress() and zswap_decompress(), the per-CPU acomp_ctx of the current CPU at the beginning of the operation is retrieved and used throughout. However, since neither preemption nor migration are disabled, it is possible that the operation continues on a different CPU.

If the original CPU is hotunplugged while the acomp_ctx is still in use, we run into a UAF bug as some of the resources attached to the acomp_ctx are freed during hotunplug in zswap_cpu_comp_dead() (i.e. acomp_ctx.buffer, acomp_ctx.req, or acomp_ctx.acomp).

The problem was introduced in commit 1ec3b5fe6eec ("mm/zswap: move to use crypto_acomp API for hardware acceleration") when the switch to the crypto_acomp API was made. Prior to that, the per-CPU crypto_comp was retrieved using get_cpu_ptr() which disables preemption and makes sure the CPU cannot go away from under us. Preemption cannot be disabled with the crypto_acomp API as a sleepable context is needed.

Use the acomp_ctx.mutex to synchronize CPU hotplug callbacks allocating and freeing resources with compression/decompression paths. Make sure that acomp_ctx.req is NULL when the resources are freed. In the compression/decompression paths, check if acomp_ctx.req is NULL after acquiring the mutex (meaning the CPU was offlined) and retry on the new CPU.

The initialization of acomp_ctx.mutex is moved from the CPU hotplug callback to the pool initialization where it belongs (where the mutex is allocated). In addition to adding clarity, this makes sure that CPU hotplug cannot reinitialize a mutex that is already locked by compression/decompression.

Previously a fix was attempted by holding cpus_read_lock() [1]. This would have caused a potential deadlock as it is possible for code already holding the lock to fall into reclaim and enter zswap (causing a deadlock). A fix was also attempted using SRCU for synchronization, but Johannes pointed out that synchronize_srcu() cannot be used in CPU hotplug notifiers [2].

Alternative fixes that were considered/attempted and could have worked: - Refcounting the per-CPU acomp_ctx. This involves complexity in handling the race between the refcount dropping to zero in zswap_[de]compress() and the refcount being re-initialized when the CPU is onlined. - Disabling migration before getting the per-CPU acomp_ctx [3], but that's discouraged and is a much bigger hammer than needed, and could result in subtle performance issues.

[1]https://lkml.kernel.org/20241219212437.2714151-1-yosryahmed@google.com/ [2]https://lkml.kernel.org/20250107074724.1756696-2-yosryahmed@google.com/ [3]https://lkml.kernel.org/20250107222236.2715883-2-yosryahmed@google.com/

[yosryahmed@google.com: remove comment]

Patch / fix

  • Linux Linux 6.12.12, 6.13
  • linux Debian 14, Debian 13 6.12.12-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2025-21693

  • linux-gcp-6.11 Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.11.0-1013.13~24.04.1
  • linux-hwe-6.11 Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.11.0-24.24~24.04.1
  • linux-oem-6.11 Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.11.0-1020.20
  • linux-azure-6.11 Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.11.0-1013.13~24.04.1
  • linux-nvidia-6.11 Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.11.0-1007.7
  • linux-nvidia-tegra Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1035.38
  • linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.11 Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.11.0-1012.13~24.04.1

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2025-21693

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • kernel RHEL 9 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7
  • rv RHEL 9 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7
  • perf RHEL 9 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7
  • rtla RHEL 9 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7
  • libperf RHEL 9 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7
  • kernel-rt RHEL 9 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7
  • kernel-64k RHEL 9 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7
  • kernel-core RHEL 9 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7

red hat advisories RHSA-2025:20518RHSA-2025:20095

  • kernel-azure SLE Module for Public Cloud 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.20.3.1
  • kernel-syms-azure SLE Module for Public Cloud 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.20.3.1
  • kernel-source-azure SLE Module for Public Cloud 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.20.3.1
  • kernel-coco SLE Module for Confidential Computing Technical Preview 15 SP6 6.4.0-15061.21.coco15sp6.1
  • kernel-syms-coco SLE Module for Confidential Computing Technical Preview 15 SP6 6.4.0-15061.21.coco15sp6.1
  • kernel-coco_debug SLE Module for Confidential Computing Technical Preview 15 SP6 6.4.0-15061.21.coco15sp6.1
  • kernel-source-coco SLE Module for Confidential Computing Technical Preview 15 SP6 6.4.0-15061.21.coco15sp6.1
  • kernel-source Linux Micro 6.1, Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-28.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2025:01967-1SUSE-SU-2025:01919-1SUSE-SU-2025:20192-1SUSE-SU-2025:20270-1SUSE-SU-2025:20190-1SUSE-SU-2025:20260-1

  • kernel AlmaLinux 10 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1
  • rv AlmaLinux 10 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1
  • perf AlmaLinux 10 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1
  • rtla AlmaLinux 10 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1
  • libperf AlmaLinux 10 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1
  • kernel-rt AlmaLinux 10 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1
  • kernel-64k AlmaLinux 10 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1
  • kernel-core AlmaLinux 10 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1

almalinux advisories ALSA-2025:20095ALSA-2025:20518

  • kernel Rocky Linux 10 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1
  • kernel Rocky Linux 9 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7

rocky linux advisories RLSA-2025:20095RLSA-2025:20518

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2025-21693 updated cvss 5.5

kernel: mm: zswap: properly synchronize freeing resources during CPU hotunplug

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, python-perf, kernel-kdump, +8 more
    affected: no fix planned “Out of support scope”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 9) rv 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, perf 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, rtla 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, python3-perf 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-devel-matched 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-64k-devel-matched 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, +7 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2025:20518
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 10) rv 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, perf 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, rtla 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, python3-perf 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-devel-matched 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-64k-devel-matched 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, +7 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2025:20095
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 9) kernel 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-64k 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-core 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-tools 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-modules 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-64k-core 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, +27 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2025:20518
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 10) kernel 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-64k 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-core 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-tools 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-modules 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-64k-core 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, +28 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2025:20095
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux CodeReady Linux Builder (v. 9) libperf 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-debuginfo-common-s390x 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-debuginfo-common-aarch64 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2025:20518
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux CodeReady Linux Builder (v. 10) libperf 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-debuginfo-common-s390x 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-debuginfo-common-aarch64 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2025:20095
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time (v. 9) kernel-rt 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-rt-64k 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-rt-core 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-rt-modules 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-rt-64k-core 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-rt-debug-core 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, +14 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2025:20518
show 4 more
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time (v. 10) kernel-rt 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-rt-64k 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-rt-core 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-rt-modules 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-rt-64k-core 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-rt-debug-core 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, +14 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2025:20095
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time for NFV (v. 9) kernel-rt 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-rt-core 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-rt-modules 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-rt-debug-core 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-rt-modules-core 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-rt-debug-modules 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, +4 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2025:20518
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time for NFV (v. 10) kernel-rt 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-rt-core 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-rt-modules 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-rt-debug-core 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-rt-modules-core 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-rt-debug-modules 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, +4 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2025:20095
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, kernel-core, kernel-tools, +29 more
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
total
Assessed
20 mo ago

Exploit prediction

0.20% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 10% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 7.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CISA ADP 3.1 7.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected products

  • Linux Linux

Classification

Weakness
Technology feeds

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.