CVE-2025-21893 | keys: Fix UAF in key_put()

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: keys: Fix UAF in key_put() Once a key's reference count has been reduced to 0, the garbage collector thread may destroy it at any time and so key_put() is not allowed to touch the key after that point. The most key_put() is normally allowed to do is to touch key_gc_work as that's a static global variable. However, in an effort to speed up the reclamation of quota, this is now done in key_put() once the key's usage is reduced to 0 - but now the code is looking at the key after the deadline, which is forbidden. Fix this by using a flag to indicate that a key can be gc'd now rather than looking at the key's refcount in the garbage collector.

Published: 2025-03-31 Last update: 2025-04-08 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-21893 is rated Low Risk (36.4/100): CVSS High 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-2025-21893

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 2026-05-09 0.05% 0.05% -0.00%
2 2026-01-25 0.01% 0.05% +0.04%
3 2025-04-01 0.01%

Full EPSS history (3 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-21893

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
1.8 5.9 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-21893

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-21893

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2025-21893 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-2025-21893
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-21893
suse medium CVE-2025-21893 severity moderate: SUSE including 76 source package names (15.7.20.5.1:kernel-default-6.4.0-150700.53.3.1, cluster-md-kmp-default, …), 336 product×package rows across 86 product lines (Container suse/hpc/warewulf4-x86_64/sle-hpc-node, Image SLES15-SP7-Azure-3P, … (86 product lines)): Known Not Affected 185, Fixed 151. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-21893/
ubuntu medium CVE-2025-21893 medium priority: Ubuntu including 150 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1487 status rows across 10 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1097, ignored 147, not-affected 144, released 99. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-21893

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-21893

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 6.10, < 6.12.21 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.13, < 6.13.9 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-2025-21893

cvelogic Threat Intelligence