CVE-2025-23161 [Medium] | Security Vulnerability in Linux Kernel

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: PCI: vmd: Make vmd_dev::cfg_lock a raw_spinlock_t type The access to the PCI config space via pci_ops::read and pci_ops::write is a low-level hardware access. The functions can be accessed with disabled interrupts even on PREEMPT_RT. The pci_lock is a raw_spinlock_t for this purpose. A spinlock_t becomes a sleeping lock on PREEMPT_RT, so it cannot be acquired with disabled interrupts. The vmd_dev::cfg_lock is accessed in the same context as the pci_lock. Make vmd_dev::cfg_lock a raw_spinlock_t type so it can be used with interrupts disabled. This was reported as: BUG: sleeping function called from invalid context at kernel/locking/spinlock_rt.c:48 Call Trace: rt_spin_lock+0x4e/0x130 vmd_pci_read+0x8d/0x100 [vmd] pci_user_read_config_byte+0x6f/0xe0 pci_read_config+0xfe/0x290 sysfs_kf_bin_read+0x68/0x90 [bigeasy: reword commit message] Tested-off-by: Luis Claudio R. Goncalves <[email protected]> [kwilczynski: commit log] [bhelgaas: add back report info from https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/[email protected]/]

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2025-05-02	—	0.02%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2025-05-02

—

0.02%

—

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-2025-23161

vendor	priority	summary	link
`debian`	not yet assigned	CVE-2025-23161 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-2025-23161
`redhat`	medium	—	https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-23161
`suse`	medium	—	https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-23161/
`ubuntu`	medium	CVE-2025-23161 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 168, released 162, needed 45, not-affected 28, needs-triage 2, pending 1.	https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-23161

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-23161

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
linux	linux_kernel	< 5.15.181	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 5.16, < 6.1.135	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 6.2, < 6.6.88	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 6.7, < 6.12.24	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 6.13, < 6.13.12	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 6.14, < 6.14.3	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
debian	debian_linux	11.0	cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:::::::*

References for CVE-2025-23161

URL	Tags
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/13e5148f70e81991acbe0bab5b1b50ba699116e7	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/18056a48669a040bef491e63b25896561ee14d90	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/20d0a9062c031068fa39f725a32f182b709b5525	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2358046ead696ca5c7c628d6c0e2c6792619a3e5	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5c3cfcf0b4bf43530788b08a8eaf7896ec567484	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c250262d6485ca333e9821f85b07eb383ec546b1	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c2968c812339593ac6e2bdd5cc3adabe3f05fa53	Patch
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/05/msg00045.html	Mailing List

URL

CVE-2025-23161 | PCI: vmd: Make vmd_dev::cfg_lock a raw_spinlock_t type

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2025-23161

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-23161

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-23161

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-23161

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-23161

References for CVE-2025-23161