Linux Kernel up to 6.12.18/6.13.6 ucsi.c poll_cci assertion

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability marked as problematic has been reported in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.18/6.13.6. Affected by this vulnerability is the function poll_cci of the file drivers/usb/typec/ucsi/ucsi.c. The manipulation leads to assertion. This vulnerability is documented as CVE-2025-21902. There is not any exploit available. It is suggested to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.18/6.13.6 and classified as problematic. This issue affects the function poll_cci of the file drivers/usb/typec/ucsi/ucsi.c. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a assertion vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-617. The product contains an assert() or similar statement that can be triggered by an attacker, which leads to an application exit or other behavior that is more severe than necessary. The impact remains unknown. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: acpi: typec: ucsi: Introduce a ->poll_cci method For the ACPI backend of UCSI the UCSI "registers" are just a memory copy of the register values in an opregion. The ACPI implementation in the BIOS ensures that the opregion contents are synced to the embedded controller and it ensures that the registers (in particular CCI) are synced back to the opregion on notifications. While there is an ACPI call that syncs the actual registers to the opregion there is rarely a need to do this and on some ACPI implementations it actually breaks in various interesting ways. The only reason to force a sync from the embedded controller is to poll CCI while notifications are disabled. Only the ucsi core knows if this is the case and guessing based on the current command is suboptimal, i.e. leading to the following spurious assertion splat: WARNING: CPU: 3 PID: 76 at drivers/usb/typec/ucsi/ucsi.c:1388 ucsi_reset_ppm+0x1b4/0x1c0 [typec_ucsi] CPU: 3 UID: 0 PID: 76 Comm: kworker/3:0 Not tainted 6.12.11-200.fc41.x86_64 #1 Hardware name: LENOVO 21D0/LNVNB161216, BIOS J6CN45WW 03/17/2023 Workqueue: events_long ucsi_init_work [typec_ucsi] RIP: 0010:ucsi_reset_ppm+0x1b4/0x1c0 [typec_ucsi] Call Trace: <TASK> ucsi_init_work+0x3c/0xac0 [typec_ucsi] process_one_work+0x179/0x330 worker_thread+0x252/0x390 kthread+0xd2/0x100 ret_from_fork+0x34/0x50 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 </TASK> Thus introduce a ->poll_cci() method that works like ->read_cci() with an additional forced sync and document that this should be used when polling with notifications disabled. For all other backends that presumably don't have this issue use the same implementation for both methods.

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2025-21902 since 12/29/2024. The exploitation is known to be difficult. Technical details are known, but no exploit is available.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 235364 (Ubuntu 24.04 LTS : Linux kernel (OEM) vulnerabilities (USN-7491-1)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.12.19 or 6.13.7 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 012b98cdb54c7d47743ee7fc402fa23f2d90529a/1aec5c9066965ac0984e385bbc31455ae31cbffc/976e7e9bdc7719a023a4ecccd2e3daec9ab20a40 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 (235364) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-0683). If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

Affected

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

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
• 6.12.13
• 6.12.14
• 6.12.15
• 6.12.16
• 6.12.17
• 6.12.18
• 6.13.0
• 6.13.1
• 6.13.2
• 6.13.3
• 6.13.4
• 6.13.5
• 6.13.6

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

• 🔍
• 🔍
• 🔍

CPE 2.2info

• 🔍
• 🔍
• 🔍

CVSSv4info

CVSSv3info

CVSSv2info

Exploitinginfo

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Countermeasuresinfo

Timelineinfo

Sourcesinfo

Entryinfo

If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

Discussion