CVE-2025-22094 [Medium] | Security Vulnerability in Linux Kernel

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: powerpc/perf: Fix ref-counting on the PMU 'vpa_pmu' Commit 176cda0619b6 ("powerpc/perf: Add perf interface to expose vpa counters") introduced 'vpa_pmu' to expose Book3s-HV nested APIv2 provided L1<->L2 context switch latency counters to L1 user-space via perf-events. However the newly introduced PMU named 'vpa_pmu' doesn't assign ownership of the PMU to the module 'vpa_pmu'. Consequently the module 'vpa_pmu' can be unloaded while one of the perf-events are still active, which can lead to kernel oops and panic of the form below on a Pseries-LPAR: BUG: Kernel NULL pointer dereference on read at 0x00000058 <snip> NIP [c000000000506cb8] event_sched_out+0x40/0x258 LR [c00000000050e8a4] __perf_remove_from_context+0x7c/0x2b0 Call Trace: [c00000025fc3fc30] [c00000025f8457a8] 0xc00000025f8457a8 (unreliable) [c00000025fc3fc80] [fffffffffffffee0] 0xfffffffffffffee0 [c00000025fc3fcd0] [c000000000501e70] event_function+0xa8/0x120 <snip> Kernel panic - not syncing: Aiee, killing interrupt handler! Fix this by adding the module ownership to 'vpa_pmu' so that the module 'vpa_pmu' is ref-counted and prevented from being unloaded when perf-events are initialized.

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2026-06-15	0.04%	0.16%	+0.12%
2	2026-05-25	0.07%	0.04%	-0.03%
3	2026-02-10	—	0.07%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2026-06-15

0.04%

0.16%

+0.12%

2026-05-25

0.07%

0.04%

-0.03%

2026-02-10

—

0.07%

—

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]

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]

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-22094

vendor	priority	summary	link
`debian`	unimportant	CVE-2025-22094 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-2025-22094
`redhat`	—	—	https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-22094
`suse`	medium	CVE-2025-22094 severity moderate: SUSE including 88 source package names (15.7.20.5.1:kernel-default-6.4.0-150700.53.3.1, cluster-md-kmp-default, …), 404 product×package rows across 95 product lines (Container suse/hpc/warewulf4-x86_64/sle-hpc-node, Image SLES15-SP7-Azure-3P, … (95 product lines)): Known Not Affected 241, Fixed 163.	https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-22094/
`ubuntu`	medium	CVE-2025-22094 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, not-affected 157, ignored 147, released 100, needs-triage 2.	https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-22094

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-22094

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
linux	linux_kernel	>= 6.13, < 6.13.11	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 6.14, < 6.14.2	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::

References for CVE-2025-22094

URL	Tags
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6cf045b51e2c5721db7e55305f09ee32741e00f9	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/70ea7c5189197c6f5acdcfd8a2651be2c41e2faa	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ff99d5b6a246715f2257123cdf6c4a29cb33aa78	Patch

URL

CVE-2025-22094 | powerpc/perf: Fix ref-counting on the PMU 'vpa_pmu'

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2025-22094

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-22094

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-22094

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-22094

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-22094

References for CVE-2025-22094