Use After Free in Linux

CVE-2025-21811

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: nilfs2: protect access to buffers with no active references nilfs_lookup_dirty_data_buffers(), which iterates through the buffers attached to dirty data folios/pages, accesses the attached buffers without locking the folios/pages. For data cache, nilfs_clear_folio_dirty() may be called asynchronously when the file system degenerates to read only, so nilfs_lookup_dirty_data_buffers() still has the potential to cause use after free issues when buffers lose the protection of their dirty state midway due to this asynchronous clearing and are unintentionally freed by try_to_free_buffers(). Eliminate this race issue by adjusting the lock section in this function.

Vulnerability class: Use-After-Free

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.8 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.003 (15.5th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 15th percentile — 15.5% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2025-21811: held from 0.003 to 0.003.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.003 · newest: 0.003 · change: +0.000

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2025-21811?
CVE-2025-21811 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under Use After Free. CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2025-02-27.
How severe is CVE-2025-21811?
High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.
Is CVE-2025-21811 known to be exploited?
1 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.