CVE-2025-21664
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: dm thin: make get_first_thin use rcu-safe list first function The documentation in rculist.h explains the absence of list_empty_rcu() and cautions programmers against relying on a list_empty() -> list_first() sequence in RCU safe code. This is because each of these functions performs its own READ_ONCE() of the list head. This can lead to a situation where the list_empty() sees a valid list entry, but the subsequent list_first() sees a different view of list head state after a modification. In the case of dm-thin, this author had a production box crash from a GP fault in the process_deferred_bios path. This function saw a valid list head in get_first_thin() but when it subsequently dereferenced that and turned it into a thin_c, it got the inside of the struct pool, since the list was now empty and referring to itself. The kernel on which this occurred printed both a warning about a refcount_t being saturated, and a UBSAN error for an out-of-bounds cpuid access in the queued spinlock, prior to the fault itself. When the resulting kdump was examined, it was possible to see another thread patiently waiting in thin_dtr's synchronize_rcu. The thin_dtr call managed to pull the thin_c out of the active thins list (and have it be the last entry in the active_thins list) at just the wrong moment which lead to this crash. Fortunately, the fix here is straight forward. Switch get_first_thin() function to use list_first_or_null_rcu() which performs just a single READ_ONCE() and returns NULL if the list is already empty. This was run against the devicemapper test suite's thin-provisioning suites for delete and suspend and no regressions were observed.
Predictions
Heuristic predictions, AS-IS, for prioritization only.
Mitigations
No mitigations published for this CVE yet.
The vendor-content worker queues fetches as references arrive (check back in a few minutes). Or — if you've already worked around this in production — publish your fix to the community-verified tier.
✚ Propose a mitigation on Community → Mitigations published via the community go through AI scoring + 2 human reviewers + 7-day silent objection window before landing here withsource_tier=community-verified.
OS impact
| OS | Version | Status | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| sles | affected | | |
| debian | bookworm | fixed | 6.1.128-1 |
| debian | bullseye | fixed | 5.10.234-1 |
| debian | forky | fixed | 6.12.10-1 |
| debian | sid | fixed | 6.12.10-1 |
| debian | trixie | fixed | 6.12.10-1 |
| linux-kernel | affected | 5.4.290 | |
| linux-kernel | 3.15 | affected | |
| linux-kernel | 6.13 | affected | |
References
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/12771050b6d059eea096993bf2001da9da9fddff
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6b305e98de0d225ccebfb225730a9f560d28ecb0
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/802666a40c71a23542c43a3f87e3a2d0f4e8fe45
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/80f130bfad1dab93b95683fc39b87235682b8f72
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cbd0d5ecfa390ac29c5380200147d09c381b2ac6
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cd30a3960433ec2db94b3689752fa3c5df44d649
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ec037fe8c0d0f6140e3d8a49c7b29cb5582160b8
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/03/msg00001.html
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/03/msg00002.html
- https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-265688.html
- https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-21664.html
- https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-21664
Community-verified mitigations for this CVE will appear above when contributors publish them.
Verify integrity in audit chain (admin only). AS-IS.