Linux Kernel up to 6.12.9/6.13-rc6 drm xe_gt_tlb_invalidation_init null pointer dereference

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.9/6.13-rc6. Affected is the function xe_gt_tlb_invalidation_init of the component drm. Such manipulation leads to null pointer dereference. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2025-21644. There is no exploit available. Upgrading the affected component is advised.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.9/6.13-rc6. It has been rated as critical. Affected by this issue is the function xe_gt_tlb_invalidation_init of the component drm. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a null pointer dereference vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-476. A NULL pointer dereference occurs when the application dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid, but is NULL, typically causing a crash or exit. Impacted is availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: drm/xe: Fix tlb invalidation when wedging If GuC fails to load, the driver wedges, but in the process it tries to do stuff that may not be initialized yet. This moves the xe_gt_tlb_invalidation_init() to be done earlier: as its own doc says, it's a software-only initialization and should had been named with the _early() suffix. Move it to be called by xe_gt_init_early(), so the locks and seqno are initialized, avoiding a NULL ptr deref when wedging: xe 0000:03:00.0: [drm] *ERROR* GT0: load failed: status: Reset = 0, BootROM = 0x50, UKernel = 0x00, MIA = 0x00, Auth = 0x01 xe 0000:03:00.0: [drm] *ERROR* GT0: firmware signature verification failed xe 0000:03:00.0: [drm] *ERROR* CRITICAL: Xe has declared device 0000:03:00.0 as wedged. ... BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000 #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page PGD 0 P4D 0 Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP NOPTI CPU: 9 UID: 0 PID: 3908 Comm: modprobe Tainted: G U W 6.13.0-rc4-xe+ #3 Tainted: [U]=USER, [W]=WARN Hardware name: Intel Corporation Alder Lake Client Platform/AlderLake-S ADP-S DDR5 UDIMM CRB, BIOS ADLSFWI1.R00.3275.A00.2207010640 07/01/2022 RIP: 0010:xe_gt_tlb_invalidation_reset+0x75/0x110 [xe] This can be easily triggered by poking the GuC binary to force a signature failure. There will still be an extra message, xe 0000:03:00.0: [drm] *ERROR* GT0: GuC mmio request 0x4100: no reply 0x4100 but that's better than a NULL ptr deref. (cherry picked from commit 5001ef3af8f2c972d6fd9c5221a8457556f8bea6)

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2025-21644 since 12/29/2024. The exploitation is known to be difficult. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 233479 (Ubuntu 24.10 : Linux kernel (Low Latency) vulnerabilities (USN-7380-1)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.12.10 or 6.13-rc7 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 09b94ddc58c6640cbbc7775a61a5387b8be71488/9ab4981552930a9c45682d62424ba610edc3992d is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (233479) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-0119). VulDB is the best source for vulnerability data and more expert information about this specific topic.

Affected

• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• Dell NetWorker
• Dell Avamar
• Dell PowerProtect Data Domain
• Open Source Linux Kernel

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.12.0
• 6.12.1
• 6.12.2
• 6.12.3
• 6.12.4
• 6.12.5
• 6.12.6
• 6.12.7
• 6.12.8
• 6.12.9
• 6.13-rc1
• 6.13-rc2
• 6.13-rc3
• 6.13-rc4
• 6.13-rc5
• 6.13-rc6

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Entryinfo

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