CVE-2025-21709 | kernel: be more careful about dup_mmap() failures and uprobe registering

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: kernel: be more careful about dup_mmap() failures and uprobe registering If a memory allocation fails during dup_mmap(), the maple tree can be left in an unsafe state for other iterators besides the exit path. All the locks are dropped before the exit_mmap() call (in mm/mmap.c), but the incomplete mm_struct can be reached through (at least) the rmap finding the vmas which have a pointer back to the mm_struct. Up to this point, there have been no issues with being able to find an mm_struct that was only partially initialised. Syzbot was able to make the incomplete mm_struct fail with recent forking changes, so it has been proven unsafe to use the mm_struct that hasn't been initialised, as referenced in the link below. Although 8ac662f5da19f ("fork: avoid inappropriate uprobe access to invalid mm") fixed the uprobe access, it does not completely remove the race. This patch sets the MMF_OOM_SKIP to avoid the iteration of the vmas on the oom side (even though this is extremely unlikely to be selected as an oom victim in the race window), and sets MMF_UNSTABLE to avoid other potential users from using a partially initialised mm_struct. When registering vmas for uprobe, skip the vmas in an mm that is marked unstable. Modifying a vma in an unstable mm may cause issues if the mm isn't fully initialised.

Published: 2025-02-27 Last update: 2026-04-22 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-21709 is rated Low Risk (26.7/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.04%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2025-21709

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-05-22 0.05% 0.04% -0.01%
2 2026-05-17 0.04% 0.05% +0.01%
3 2025-10-24 0.04%

Full EPSS history (5 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-21709

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
1.8 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-21709

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2025-21709

GHSA-vh2p-4gfm-v9v7 · Severity: medium — In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: kernel: be more careful...

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-21709

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2025-21709 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-21709
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-21709
suse medium CVE-2025-21709 severity moderate: SUSE including 52 source package names (cluster-md-kmp-default, dlm-kmp-default, …), 273 product×package rows across 48 product lines (SLES-LTSS-TERADATA 15 SP2, SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 12 SP5, … (48 product lines)): Known Not Affected 247, Fixed 26. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-21709/
ubuntu medium CVE-2025-21709 medium priority: Ubuntu including 158 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1551 status rows across 10 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1145, ignored 165, not-affected 116, released 92, needed 33. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-21709

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-21709

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 6.8, < 6.13.2 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2025-21709

cvelogic Threat Intelligence