Vulnerability in Linux

CVE-2025-21853

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf: avoid holding freeze_mutex during mmap operation We use map->freeze_mutex to prevent races between map_freeze() and memory mapping BPF map contents with writable permissions. The way we naively do this means we'll hold freeze_mutex for entire duration of all the mm and VMA manipulations, which is completely unnecessary. This can potentially also lead to deadlocks, as reported by syzbot in [0]. So, instead, hold freeze_mutex only during writeability checks, bump (proactively) "write active" count for the map, unlock the mutex and proceed with mmap logic. And only if something went wrong during mmap logic, then undo that "write active" counter increment. [0] https://lore.kernel.org/bpf/678dcbc9.050a0220.303755.0066.GAE@google.com/

EPSS: 0.002 (12.8th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 5.5 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

Affected products

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2025-21853?
CVE-2025-21853 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2025-03-12.
How severe is CVE-2025-21853?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.
Is CVE-2025-21853 known to be exploited?
2 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.