{"cve":"CVE-2025-21693","nvd":{"published":"2025-02-10T16:15:38.883","modified":"2026-06-17T08:44:02.480","status":"Modified","description":"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nmm: zswap: properly synchronize freeing resources during CPU hotunplug\n\nIn zswap_compress() and zswap_decompress(), the per-CPU acomp_ctx of the\ncurrent CPU at the beginning of the operation is retrieved and used\nthroughout.  However, since neither preemption nor migration are disabled,\nit is possible that the operation continues on a different CPU.\n\nIf the original CPU is hotunplugged while the acomp_ctx is still in use,\nwe run into a UAF bug as some of the resources attached to the acomp_ctx\nare freed during hotunplug in zswap_cpu_comp_dead() (i.e. \nacomp_ctx.buffer, acomp_ctx.req, or acomp_ctx.acomp).\n\nThe problem was introduced in commit 1ec3b5fe6eec (\"mm/zswap: move to use\ncrypto_acomp API for hardware acceleration\") when the switch to the\ncrypto_acomp API was made.  Prior to that, the per-CPU crypto_comp was\nretrieved using get_cpu_ptr() which disables preemption and makes sure the\nCPU cannot go away from under us.  Preemption cannot be disabled with the\ncrypto_acomp API as a sleepable context is needed.\n\nUse the acomp_ctx.mutex to synchronize CPU hotplug callbacks allocating\nand freeing resources with compression/decompression paths.  Make sure\nthat acomp_ctx.req is NULL when the resources are freed.  In the\ncompression/decompression paths, check if acomp_ctx.req is NULL after\nacquiring the mutex (meaning the CPU was offlined) and retry on the new\nCPU.\n\nThe initialization of acomp_ctx.mutex is moved from the CPU hotplug\ncallback to the pool initialization where it belongs (where the mutex is\nallocated).  In addition to adding clarity, this makes sure that CPU\nhotplug cannot reinitialize a mutex that is already locked by\ncompression/decompression.\n\nPreviously a fix was attempted by holding cpus_read_lock() [1].  This\nwould have caused a potential deadlock as it is possible for code already\nholding the lock to fall into reclaim and enter zswap (causing a\ndeadlock).  A fix was also attempted using SRCU for synchronization, but\nJohannes pointed out that synchronize_srcu() cannot be used in CPU hotplug\nnotifiers [2].\n\nAlternative fixes that were considered/attempted and could have worked:\n- Refcounting the per-CPU acomp_ctx. This involves complexity in\n  handling the race between the refcount dropping to zero in\n  zswap_[de]compress() and the refcount being re-initialized when the\n  CPU is onlined.\n- Disabling migration before getting the per-CPU acomp_ctx [3], but\n  that's discouraged and is a much bigger hammer than needed, and could\n  result in subtle performance issues.\n\n[1]https://lkml.kernel.org/20241219212437.2714151-1-yosryahmed@google.com/\n[2]https://lkml.kernel.org/20250107074724.1756696-2-yosryahmed@google.com/\n[3]https://lkml.kernel.org/20250107222236.2715883-2-yosryahmed@google.com/\n\n[yosryahmed@google.com: remove comment]","cvss_v4":null,"cvss_v3":{"version":"3.1","vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","score":7.8},"cwes":["CWE-416"],"references":["https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/12dcb0ef540629a281533f9dedc1b6b8e14cfb65","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8d29ff5d50304daa41dc3cfdda4a9d1e46cf5be1"],"products":["linux:linux_kernel"],"source":"nvd","synced_at":"2026-10-19T21:59:18.731010617+00:00"},"epss":{"cve":"CVE-2025-21693","score":0.00203,"percentile":0.10345,"date":"2026-11-01"},"kev":null,"osv":[],"attribution":["This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.","EPSS scores: FIRST Exploit Prediction Scoring System, https://www.first.org/epss","Known exploited vulnerabilities: CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog, https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog","Package advisories: OSV (https://osv.dev), from the GitHub Advisory Database, PyPA, Go, RustSec and other ecosystem databases, under CC-BY 4.0 or CC0","CVE records: the CVE Program's CVE List (https://www.cve.org), under its terms of use (https://www.cve.org/Legal/TermsOfUse). CVE is a registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation; this product is not affiliated with the CVE Program."]}