CVE-2025-21813
Vulnerability Scoring
Status: Received on 27 Feb 2025, 20:16 UTC
Published on: 27 Feb 2025, 20:16 UTC
CVSS Release:
CVE-2025-21813: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: timers/migration: Fix off-by-one root mis-connection Before attaching a new root to the old root, the children counter of the new root is checked to verify that only the upcoming CPU's top group have been connected to it. However since the recently added commit b729cc1ec21a ("timers/migration: Fix another race between hotplug and idle entry/exit") this check is not valid anymore because the old root is pre-accounted as a child to the new root. Therefore after connecting the upcoming CPU's top group to the new root, the children count to be expected must be 2 and not 1 anymore. This omission results in the old root to not be connected to the new root. Then eventually the system may run with more than one top level, which defeats the purpose of a single idle migrator. Also the old root is pre-accounted but not connected upon the new root creation. But it can be connected to the new root later on. Therefore the old root may be accounted twice to the new root. The propagation of such overcommit can end up creating a double final top-level root with a groupmask incorrectly initialized. Although harmless given that the final top level roots will never have a parent to walk up to, this oddity opportunistically reported the core issue: WARNING: CPU: 8 PID: 0 at kernel/time/timer_migration.c:543 tmigr_requires_handle_remote CPU: 8 UID: 0 PID: 0 Comm: swapper/8 RIP: 0010:tmigr_requires_handle_remote Call Trace: <IRQ> ? tmigr_requires_handle_remote ? hrtimer_run_queues update_process_times tick_periodic tick_handle_periodic __sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt </IRQ> Fix the problem by taking the old root into account in the children count of the new root so the connection is not omitted. Also warn when more than one top level group exists to better detect similar issues in the future.
The exploitability of CVE-2025-21813 depends on two key factors: attack complexity (the level of effort required to execute an exploit) and privileges required (the access level an attacker needs).
No exploitability data is available for CVE-2025-21813.
A lower complexity and fewer privilege requirements make exploitation easier. Security teams should evaluate these aspects to determine the urgency of mitigation strategies, such as patch management and access control policies.
Attack Complexity (AC) measures the difficulty in executing an exploit. A high AC means that specific conditions must be met, making an attack more challenging, while a low AC means the vulnerability can be exploited with minimal effort.
Privileges Required (PR) determine the level of system access necessary for an attack. Vulnerabilities requiring no privileges are more accessible to attackers, whereas high privilege requirements limit exploitation to authorized users with elevated access.
Above is the CVSS Sub-score Breakdown for CVE-2025-21813, illustrating how Base, Impact, and Exploitability factors combine to form the overall severity rating. A higher sub-score typically indicates a more severe or easier-to-exploit vulnerability.
Below is the Impact Analysis for CVE-2025-21813, showing how Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability might be affected if the vulnerability is exploited. Higher values usually signal greater potential damage.
The EPSS score estimates the probability that this vulnerability will be exploited in the near future.
EPSS Score: 0.045% (probability of exploit)
EPSS Percentile: 18.4%
(lower percentile = lower relative risk)
This vulnerability is less risky than approximately 81.6% of others.
Unknown
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