Linux Kernel up to 6.12.12/6.13.1 spapr_tce_set_window null pointer dereference

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.12/6.13.1. The impacted element is the function spapr_tce_set_window. The manipulation results in null pointer dereference. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2025-21713. No exploit is available. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.12/6.13.1. Affected is the function spapr_tce_set_window. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a null pointer dereference vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as 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. This is going to have an impact on availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: powerpc/pseries/iommu: Don't unset window if it was never set On pSeries, when user attempts to use the same vfio container used by different iommu group, the spapr_tce_set_window() returns -EPERM and the subsequent cleanup leads to the below crash. Kernel attempted to read user page (308) - exploit attempt? BUG: Kernel NULL pointer dereference on read at 0x00000308 Faulting instruction address: 0xc0000000001ce358 Oops: Kernel access of bad area, sig: 11 [#1] NIP: c0000000001ce358 LR: c0000000001ce05c CTR: c00000000005add0 NIP [c0000000001ce358] spapr_tce_unset_window+0x3b8/0x510 LR [c0000000001ce05c] spapr_tce_unset_window+0xbc/0x510 Call Trace: spapr_tce_unset_window+0xbc/0x510 (unreliable) tce_iommu_attach_group+0x24c/0x340 [vfio_iommu_spapr_tce] vfio_container_attach_group+0xec/0x240 [vfio] vfio_group_fops_unl_ioctl+0x548/0xb00 [vfio] sys_ioctl+0x754/0x1580 system_call_exception+0x13c/0x330 system_call_vectored_common+0x15c/0x2ec --- interrupt: 3000 Fix this by having null check for the tbl passed to the spapr_tce_unset_window().

The advisory is available at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2025-21713 since 12/29/2024. The exploitability is told to be difficult. Technical details are known, but there is no available exploit.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 236983 (Ubuntu 24.04 LTS / 24.10 : Linux kernel vulnerabilities (USN-7521-1)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.12.13, 6.13.2 or 6.14-rc1 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch b853ff0b514c1df314246fcf94744005914b48cb/ac12372a13dab3f7a2762db240bd180de8ef1e5e/17391cb2613b82f8c405570fea605af3255ff8d2 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 (236983) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-0453). If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.

Affected

• Google Container-Optimized OS
• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• Siemens SIMATIC S7
• RESF Rocky Linux
• Dell NetWorker
• Dell Avamar
• Red Hat OpenShift
• IBM QRadar SIEM
• SolarWinds Security Event Manager
• Dell PowerProtect Data Domain
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• IBM DataPower Gateway
• Dell Secure Connect Gateway
• Dell PowerScale OneFS
• Dell ECS

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
• 6.12.10
• 6.12.11
• 6.12.12
• 6.13.0
• 6.13.1

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Entryinfo

If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.

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