CVE-2025-21779 | KVM: x86: Reject Hyper-V's SEND_IPI hypercalls if local APIC isn't in-kernel

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: x86: Reject Hyper-V's SEND_IPI hypercalls if local APIC isn't in-kernel Advertise support for Hyper-V's SEND_IPI and SEND_IPI_EX hypercalls if and only if the local API is emulated/virtualized by KVM, and explicitly reject said hypercalls if the local APIC is emulated in userspace, i.e. don't rely on userspace to opt-in to KVM_CAP_HYPERV_ENFORCE_CPUID. Rejecting SEND_IPI and SEND_IPI_EX fixes a NULL-pointer dereference if Hyper-V enlightenments are exposed to the guest without an in-kernel local APIC: dump_stack+0xbe/0xfd __kasan_report.cold+0x34/0x84 kasan_report+0x3a/0x50 __apic_accept_irq+0x3a/0x5c0 kvm_hv_send_ipi.isra.0+0x34e/0x820 kvm_hv_hypercall+0x8d9/0x9d0 kvm_emulate_hypercall+0x506/0x7e0 __vmx_handle_exit+0x283/0xb60 vmx_handle_exit+0x1d/0xd0 vcpu_enter_guest+0x16b0/0x24c0 vcpu_run+0xc0/0x550 kvm_arch_vcpu_ioctl_run+0x170/0x6d0 kvm_vcpu_ioctl+0x413/0xb20 __se_sys_ioctl+0x111/0x160 do_syscal1_64+0x30/0x40 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x67/0xd1 Note, checking the sending vCPU is sufficient, as the per-VM irqchip_mode can't be modified after vCPUs are created, i.e. if one vCPU has an in-kernel local APIC, then all vCPUs have an in-kernel local APIC.

Published: 2025-02-27 Last update: 2025-11-03 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-21779 is rated Low Risk (23.7/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.02%). 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-2025-21779

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 2026-04-17 0.05% 0.02% -0.03%
2 2025-11-13 0.04% 0.05% +0.01%
3 2025-02-27 0.04%

Full EPSS history (3 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-21779

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-2025-21779

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-21779

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2025-21779 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 2 source packages (linux, linux-6.1), 6 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 6. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-21779
redhat low https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-21779
suse medium CVE-2025-21779 severity moderate: SUSE including 428 source package names (2.1.3-6.11:kernel-default-6.4.0-28.1, 2.1.3-6.12:kernel-default-base-6.4.0-28.1.21.6, …), 722 product×package rows across 130 product lines (Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/base-os-container, Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/kvm-os-container, … (130 product lines)): Fixed 434, Known Affected 231, Known Not Affected 57. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-21779/
ubuntu medium CVE-2025-21779 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, released 167, ignored 150, not-affected 66, needed 23. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-21779

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-21779

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 4.20, < 6.1.129 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.2, < 6.6.79 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.7, < 6.12.16 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.13, < 6.13.4 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.14 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.14:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.14 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.14:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2025-21779

cvelogic Threat Intelligence