CVE-2025-21881 | uprobes: Reject the shared zeropage in uprobe_write_opcode()

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: uprobes: Reject the shared zeropage in uprobe_write_opcode() We triggered the following crash in syzkaller tests: BUG: Bad page state in process syz.7.38 pfn:1eff3 page: refcount:0 mapcount:0 mapping:0000000000000000 index:0x0 pfn:0x1eff3 flags: 0x3fffff00004004(referenced|reserved|node=0|zone=1|lastcpupid=0x1fffff) raw: 003fffff00004004 ffffe6c6c07bfcc8 ffffe6c6c07bfcc8 0000000000000000 raw: 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 00000000fffffffe 0000000000000000 page dumped because: PAGE_FLAGS_CHECK_AT_FREE flag(s) set Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.13.0-1ubuntu1.1 04/01/2014 Call Trace: <TASK> dump_stack_lvl+0x32/0x50 bad_page+0x69/0xf0 free_unref_page_prepare+0x401/0x500 free_unref_page+0x6d/0x1b0 uprobe_write_opcode+0x460/0x8e0 install_breakpoint.part.0+0x51/0x80 register_for_each_vma+0x1d9/0x2b0 __uprobe_register+0x245/0x300 bpf_uprobe_multi_link_attach+0x29b/0x4f0 link_create+0x1e2/0x280 __sys_bpf+0x75f/0xac0 __x64_sys_bpf+0x1a/0x30 do_syscall_64+0x56/0x100 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x78/0xe2 BUG: Bad rss-counter state mm:00000000452453e0 type:MM_FILEPAGES val:-1 The following syzkaller test case can be used to reproduce: r2 = creat(&(0x7f0000000000)='./file0\x00', 0x8) write$nbd(r2, &(0x7f0000000580)=ANY=[], 0x10) r4 = openat(0xffffffffffffff9c, &(0x7f0000000040)='./file0\x00', 0x42, 0x0) mmap$IORING_OFF_SQ_RING(&(0x7f0000ffd000/0x3000)=nil, 0x3000, 0x0, 0x12, r4, 0x0) r5 = userfaultfd(0x80801) ioctl$UFFDIO_API(r5, 0xc018aa3f, &(0x7f0000000040)={0xaa, 0x20}) r6 = userfaultfd(0x80801) ioctl$UFFDIO_API(r6, 0xc018aa3f, &(0x7f0000000140)) ioctl$UFFDIO_REGISTER(r6, 0xc020aa00, &(0x7f0000000100)={{&(0x7f0000ffc000/0x4000)=nil, 0x4000}, 0x2}) ioctl$UFFDIO_ZEROPAGE(r5, 0xc020aa04, &(0x7f0000000000)={{&(0x7f0000ffd000/0x1000)=nil, 0x1000}}) r7 = bpf$PROG_LOAD(0x5, &(0x7f0000000140)={0x2, 0x3, &(0x7f0000000200)=ANY=[@ANYBLOB="1800000000120000000000000000000095"], &(0x7f0000000000)='GPL\x00', 0x7, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, '\x00', 0x0, @fallback=0x30, 0xffffffffffffffff, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x10, 0x0, @void, @value}, 0x94) bpf$BPF_LINK_CREATE_XDP(0x1c, &(0x7f0000000040)={r7, 0x0, 0x30, 0x1e, @val=@uprobe_multi={&(0x7f0000000080)='./file0\x00', &(0x7f0000000100)=[0x2], 0x0, 0x0, 0x1}}, 0x40) The cause is that zero pfn is set to the PTE without increasing the RSS count in mfill_atomic_pte_zeropage() and the refcount of zero folio does not increase accordingly. Then, the operation on the same pfn is performed in uprobe_write_opcode()->__replace_page() to unconditional decrease the RSS count and old_folio's refcount. Therefore, two bugs are introduced: 1. The RSS count is incorrect, when process exit, the check_mm() report error "Bad rss-count". 2. The reserved folio (zero folio) is freed when folio->refcount is zero, then free_pages_prepare->free_page_is_bad() report error "Bad page state". There is more, the following warning could also theoretically be triggered: __replace_page() -> ... -> folio_remove_rmap_pte() -> VM_WARN_ON_FOLIO(is_zero_folio(folio), folio) Considering that uprobe hit on the zero folio is a very rare case, just reject zero old folio immediately after get_user_page_vma_remote(). [ mingo: Cleaned up the changelog ]

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

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-21881 is rated Low Risk (24/100): 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-2025-21881

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 2026-05-05 0.09% 0.02% -0.07%
2 2026-01-21 0.03% 0.09% +0.06%
3 2025-08-23 0.03%

Full EPSS history (5 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-21881

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-2025-21881

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-21881

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2025-21881 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 5, open 1. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-21881
redhat low https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-21881
suse medium https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-21881/
ubuntu medium CVE-2025-21881 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 154, released 138, needed 74, not-affected 40. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-21881

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-21881

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 3.5, < 6.1.130 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.2, < 6.6.81 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.7, < 6.12.18 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.13, < 6.13.6 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:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.14 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.14:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.14 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.14:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2025-21881

cvelogic Threat Intelligence