CVE-2025-21888 | RDMA/mlx5: Fix a WARN during dereg_mr for DM type

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: RDMA/mlx5: Fix a WARN during dereg_mr for DM type Memory regions (MR) of type DM (device memory) do not have an associated umem. In the __mlx5_ib_dereg_mr() -> mlx5_free_priv_descs() flow, the code incorrectly takes the wrong branch, attempting to call dma_unmap_single() on a DMA address that is not mapped. This results in a WARN [1], as shown below. The issue is resolved by properly accounting for the DM type and ensuring the correct branch is selected in mlx5_free_priv_descs(). [1] WARNING: CPU: 12 PID: 1346 at drivers/iommu/dma-iommu.c:1230 iommu_dma_unmap_page+0x79/0x90 Modules linked in: ip6table_mangle ip6table_nat ip6table_filter ip6_tables iptable_mangle xt_conntrack xt_MASQUERADE nf_conntrack_netlink nfnetlink xt_addrtype iptable_nat nf_nat br_netfilter rpcsec_gss_krb5 auth_rpcgss oid_registry ovelay rpcrdma rdma_ucm ib_iser libiscsi scsi_transport_iscsi ib_umad rdma_cm ib_ipoib iw_cm ib_cm mlx5_ib ib_uverbs ib_core fuse mlx5_core CPU: 12 UID: 0 PID: 1346 Comm: ibv_rc_pingpong Not tainted 6.12.0-rc7+ #1631 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS rel-1.13.0-0-gf21b5a4aeb02-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:iommu_dma_unmap_page+0x79/0x90 Code: 2b 49 3b 29 72 26 49 3b 69 08 73 20 4d 89 f0 44 89 e9 4c 89 e2 48 89 ee 48 89 df 5b 5d 41 5c 41 5d 41 5e 41 5f e9 07 b8 88 ff <0f> 0b 5b 5d 41 5c 41 5d 41 5e 41 5f c3 cc cc cc cc 66 0f 1f 44 00 RSP: 0018:ffffc90001913a10 EFLAGS: 00010246 RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffff88810194b0a8 RCX: 0000000000000000 RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: 0000000000000001 RBP: ffff88810194b0a8 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000 R10: 0000000000000001 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: 0000000000000000 R13: 0000000000000001 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: 0000000000000000 FS: 00007f537abdd740(0000) GS:ffff88885fb00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 00007f537aeb8000 CR3: 000000010c248001 CR4: 0000000000372eb0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 Call Trace: <TASK> ? __warn+0x84/0x190 ? iommu_dma_unmap_page+0x79/0x90 ? report_bug+0xf8/0x1c0 ? handle_bug+0x55/0x90 ? exc_invalid_op+0x13/0x60 ? asm_exc_invalid_op+0x16/0x20 ? iommu_dma_unmap_page+0x79/0x90 dma_unmap_page_attrs+0xe6/0x290 mlx5_free_priv_descs+0xb0/0xe0 [mlx5_ib] __mlx5_ib_dereg_mr+0x37e/0x520 [mlx5_ib] ? _raw_spin_unlock_irq+0x24/0x40 ? wait_for_completion+0xfe/0x130 ? rdma_restrack_put+0x63/0xe0 [ib_core] ib_dereg_mr_user+0x5f/0x120 [ib_core] ? lock_release+0xc6/0x280 destroy_hw_idr_uobject+0x1d/0x60 [ib_uverbs] uverbs_destroy_uobject+0x58/0x1d0 [ib_uverbs] uobj_destroy+0x3f/0x70 [ib_uverbs] ib_uverbs_cmd_verbs+0x3e4/0xbb0 [ib_uverbs] ? __pfx_uverbs_destroy_def_handler+0x10/0x10 [ib_uverbs] ? lock_acquire+0xc1/0x2f0 ? ib_uverbs_ioctl+0xcb/0x170 [ib_uverbs] ? ib_uverbs_ioctl+0x116/0x170 [ib_uverbs] ? lock_release+0xc6/0x280 ib_uverbs_ioctl+0xe7/0x170 [ib_uverbs] ? ib_uverbs_ioctl+0xcb/0x170 [ib_uverbs] __x64_sys_ioctl+0x1b0/0xa70 do_syscall_64+0x6b/0x140 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e RIP: 0033:0x7f537adaf17b Code: 0f 1e fa 48 8b 05 1d ad 0c 00 64 c7 00 26 00 00 00 48 c7 c0 ff ff ff ff c3 66 0f 1f 44 00 00 f3 0f 1e fa b8 10 00 00 00 0f 05 <48> 3d 01 f0 ff ff 73 01 c3 48 8b 0d ed ac 0c 00 f7 d8 64 89 01 48 RSP: 002b:00007ffff218f0b8 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000010 RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00007ffff218f1d8 RCX: 00007f537adaf17b RDX: 00007ffff218f1c0 RSI: 00000000c0181b01 RDI: 0000000000000003 RBP: 00007ffff218f1a0 R08: 00007f537aa8d010 R09: 0000561ee2e4f270 R10: 00007f537aace3a8 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 00007ffff218f190 R13: 000000000000001c R14: 0000561ee2e4d7c0 R15: 00007ffff218f450 </TASK>

Published: 2025-03-27 Last update: 2025-10-29 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-21888 is rated Low Risk (27.3/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.05%). 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-2025-21888

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 2026-02-21 0.05% 0.05% -0.00%
2 2026-02-18 0.02% 0.05% +0.03%
3 2025-03-28 0.02%

Full EPSS history (3 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-21888

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-2025-21888

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-21888

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2025-21888 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 4, open 1. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-21888
redhat low https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-21888
suse medium https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-21888/
ubuntu medium CVE-2025-21888 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 170, ignored 150, not-affected 85, needed 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-21888

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-21888

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 5.13, < 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-2025-21888

cvelogic Threat Intelligence