Linux Kernel up to 6.12.12/6.13.1 bpf alloc_htab_elem return value

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.12/6.13.1 and classified as problematic. Affected is the function alloc_htab_elem of the component bpf. The manipulation leads to return value. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2025-21825. No exploit exists. The affected component should be upgraded.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.12/6.13.1. This issue affects the function alloc_htab_elem of the component bpf. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a return value vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-252. The product does not check the return value from a method or function, which can prevent it from detecting unexpected states and conditions. The impact remains unknown. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf: Cancel the running bpf_timer through kworker for PREEMPT_RT During the update procedure, when overwrite element in a pre-allocated htab, the freeing of old_element is protected by the bucket lock. The reason why the bucket lock is necessary is that the old_element has already been stashed in htab->extra_elems after alloc_htab_elem() returns. If freeing the old_element after the bucket lock is unlocked, the stashed element may be reused by concurrent update procedure and the freeing of old_element will run concurrently with the reuse of the old_element. However, the invocation of check_and_free_fields() may acquire a spin-lock which violates the lockdep rule because its caller has already held a raw-spin-lock (bucket lock). The following warning will be reported when such race happens: BUG: scheduling while atomic: test_progs/676/0x00000003 3 locks held by test_progs/676: #0: ffffffff864b0240 (rcu_read_lock_trace){....}-{0:0}, at: bpf_prog_test_run_syscall+0x2c0/0x830 #1: ffff88810e961188 (&htab->lockdep_key){....}-{2:2}, at: htab_map_update_elem+0x306/0x1500 #2: ffff8881f4eac1b8 (&base->softirq_expiry_lock){....}-{2:2}, at: hrtimer_cancel_wait_running+0xe9/0x1b0 Modules linked in: bpf_testmod(O) Preemption disabled at: [<ffffffff817837a3>] htab_map_update_elem+0x293/0x1500 CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 676 Comm: test_progs Tainted: G ... 6.12.0+ #11 Tainted: [W]=WARN, [O]=OOT_MODULE Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996)... Call Trace: <TASK> dump_stack_lvl+0x57/0x70 dump_stack+0x10/0x20 __schedule_bug+0x120/0x170 __schedule+0x300c/0x4800 schedule_rtlock+0x37/0x60 rtlock_slowlock_locked+0x6d9/0x54c0 rt_spin_lock+0x168/0x230 hrtimer_cancel_wait_running+0xe9/0x1b0 hrtimer_cancel+0x24/0x30 bpf_timer_delete_work+0x1d/0x40 bpf_timer_cancel_and_free+0x5e/0x80 bpf_obj_free_fields+0x262/0x4a0 check_and_free_fields+0x1d0/0x280 htab_map_update_elem+0x7fc/0x1500 bpf_prog_9f90bc20768e0cb9_overwrite_cb+0x3f/0x43 bpf_prog_ea601c4649694dbd_overwrite_timer+0x5d/0x7e bpf_prog_test_run_syscall+0x322/0x830 __sys_bpf+0x135d/0x3ca0 __x64_sys_bpf+0x75/0xb0 x64_sys_call+0x1b5/0xa10 do_syscall_64+0x3b/0xc0 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x4b/0x53 ... </TASK> It seems feasible to break the reuse and refill of per-cpu extra_elems into two independent parts: reuse the per-cpu extra_elems with bucket lock being held and refill the old_element as per-cpu extra_elems after the bucket lock is unlocked. However, it will make the concurrent overwrite procedures on the same CPU return unexpected -E2BIG error when the map is full. Therefore, the patch fixes the lock problem by breaking the cancelling of bpf_timer into two steps for PREEMPT_RT: 1) use hrtimer_try_to_cancel() and check its return value 2) if the timer is running, use hrtimer_cancel() through a kworker to cancel it again Considering that the current implementation of hrtimer_cancel() will try to acquire a being held softirq_expiry_lock when the current timer is running, these steps above are reasonable. However, it also has downside. When the timer is running, the cancelling of the timer is delayed when releasing the last map uref. The delay is also fixable (e.g., break the cancelling of bpf timer into two parts: one part in locked scope, another one in unlocked scope), it can be revised later if necessary. It is a bit hard to decide the right fix tag. One reason is that the problem depends on PREEMPT_RT which is enabled in v6.12. Considering the softirq_expiry_lock lock exists since v5.4 and bpf_timer is introduced in v5.15, the bpf_timer commit is used in the fixes tag and an extra depends-on tag is added to state the dependency on PREEMPT_RT. Depends-on: v6.12+ with PREEMPT_RT enabled

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2025-21825 since 12/29/2024. The exploitation is known to be difficult. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 02/16/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 232271 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2025-21825), 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 33e47d9573075342a41783a55c8c67bc71246fc1/fbeda3d939ca10063aafa7a77cc0f409d82cda88/58f038e6d209d2dd862fcf5de55407855856794d 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 (232271) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-0499). Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

Affected

• Google Container-Optimized OS
• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• RESF Rocky Linux
• SolarWinds Security Event Manager
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• Dell Secure Connect Gateway

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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Exploitinginfo

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Countermeasuresinfo

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Sourcesinfo

Entryinfo

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