CVE-2025-21855

Description

From CVE.org

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ibmvnic: Don't reference skb after sending to VIOS Previously, after successfully flushing the xmit buffer to VIOS, the tx_bytes stat was incremented by the length of the skb. It is invalid to access the skb memory after sending the buffer to the VIOS because, at any point after sending, the VIOS can trigger an interrupt to free this memory. A race between reading skb->len and freeing the skb is possible (especially during LPM) and will result in use-after-free: ================================================================== BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in ibmvnic_xmit+0x75c/0x1808 [ibmvnic] Read of size 4 at addr c00000024eb48a70 by task hxecom/14495 <...> Call Trace: [c000000118f66cf0] [c0000000018cba6c] dump_stack_lvl+0x84/0xe8 (unreliable) [c000000118f66d20] [c0000000006f0080] print_report+0x1a8/0x7f0 [c000000118f66df0] [c0000000006f08f0] kasan_report+0x128/0x1f8 [c000000118f66f00] [c0000000006f2868] __asan_load4+0xac/0xe0 [c000000118f66f20] [c0080000046eac84] ibmvnic_xmit+0x75c/0x1808 [ibmvnic] [c000000118f67340] [c0000000014be168] dev_hard_start_xmit+0x150/0x358 <...> Freed by task 0: kasan_save_stack+0x34/0x68 kasan_save_track+0x2c/0x50 kasan_save_free_info+0x64/0x108 __kasan_mempool_poison_object+0x148/0x2d4 napi_skb_cache_put+0x5c/0x194 net_tx_action+0x154/0x5b8 handle_softirqs+0x20c/0x60c do_softirq_own_stack+0x6c/0x88 <...> The buggy address belongs to the object at c00000024eb48a00 which belongs to the cache skbuff_head_cache of size 224 ==================================================================

Statement

This issue is considered to be a moderate impact flaw, as the exploitation for this will need an ADMIN (or ROOT) privilege (PR:H).

Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details

Info alert:Important note

CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).

CVSS v3 Score Breakdown

Red HatNVDcve.org
Base Score6.47.88.6
Attack VectorLocalLocalNetwork
Attack ComplexityHighLowLow
Privileges RequiredHighLowNone
User InteractionNoneNoneNone
ScopeUnchangedUnchangedUnchanged
ConfidentialityHighHighLow
Integrity ImpactHighHighLow
Availability ImpactHighHighHigh

Vector

Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

NVD: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:H

Understanding the Weakness (CWE)

Integrity

Technical Impact: Modify Memory

The use of previously freed memory may corrupt valid data, if the memory area in question has been allocated and used properly elsewhere.

Availability

Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart

If chunk consolidation occurs after the use of previously freed data, the process may crash when invalid data is used as chunk information.

Confidentiality

Technical Impact: Read Memory

Read operations on freed memory can sometimes leak sensitive information instead of causing a crash

Integrity,Confidentiality,Availability

Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands

If malicious data is entered before chunk consolidation can take place, it may be possible to take advantage of a write-what-where primitive to execute arbitrary code. If the newly allocated data happens to hold a class, in C++ for example, various function pointers may be scattered within the heap data. If one of these function pointers is overwritten with an address to valid shellcode, execution of arbitrary code can be achieved.

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