CVE-2025-39821 Vulnerability Analysis & Exploit Details

CVE-2025-39821
Vulnerability Scoring

Analysis In Progress
Analysis In Progress

Attack Complexity Details

  • Attack Complexity:
    Attack Complexity Analysis In Progress
  • Attack Vector:
    Attack Vector Under Analysis
  • Privileges Required: None
    No authentication is required for exploitation.
  • Scope:
    Impact is confined to the initially vulnerable component.
  • User Interaction: None
    No user interaction is necessary for exploitation.

CVE-2025-39821 Details

Status: Awaiting Analysis

Last updated: 🕑 17 Sep 2025, 14:18 UTC
Originally published on: 🕐 16 Sep 2025, 13:15 UTC

Time between publication and last update: 1 days

CVSS Release:

CVE-2025-39821 Vulnerability Summary

CVE-2025-39821: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: perf: Avoid undefined behavior from stopping/starting inactive events Calling pmu->start()/stop() on perf events in PERF_EVENT_STATE_OFF can leave event->hw.idx at -1. When PMU drivers later attempt to use this negative index as a shift exponent in bitwise operations, it leads to UBSAN shift-out-of-bounds reports. The issue is a logical flaw in how event groups handle throttling when some members are intentionally disabled. Based on the analysis and the reproducer provided by Mark Rutland (this issue on both arm64 and x86-64). The scenario unfolds as follows: 1. A group leader event is configured with a very aggressive sampling period (e.g., sample_period = 1). This causes frequent interrupts and triggers the throttling mechanism. 2. A child event in the same group is created in a disabled state (.disabled = 1). This event remains in PERF_EVENT_STATE_OFF. Since it hasn't been scheduled onto the PMU, its event->hw.idx remains initialized at -1. 3. When throttling occurs, perf_event_throttle_group() and later perf_event_unthrottle_group() iterate through all siblings, including the disabled child event. 4. perf_event_throttle()/unthrottle() are called on this inactive child event, which then call event->pmu->start()/stop(). 5. The PMU driver receives the event with hw.idx == -1 and attempts to use it as a shift exponent. e.g., in macros like PMCNTENSET(idx), leading to the UBSAN report. The throttling mechanism attempts to start/stop events that are not actively scheduled on the hardware. Move the state check into perf_event_throttle()/perf_event_unthrottle() so that inactive events are skipped entirely. This ensures only active events with a valid hw.idx are processed, preventing undefined behavior and silencing UBSAN warnings. The corrected check ensures true before proceeding with PMU operations. The problem can be reproduced with the syzkaller reproducer:

Assessing the Risk of CVE-2025-39821

Access Complexity Graph

The exploitability of CVE-2025-39821 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).

Exploitability Analysis for CVE-2025-39821

No exploitability data is available for CVE-2025-39821.

Understanding AC and PR

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.

CVSS Score Breakdown Chart

Above is the CVSS Sub-score Breakdown for CVE-2025-39821, 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.

CIA Impact Analysis

Below is the Impact Analysis for CVE-2025-39821, showing how Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability might be affected if the vulnerability is exploited. Higher values usually signal greater potential damage.

  • Confidentiality: None
    CVE-2025-39821 does not compromise confidentiality.
  • Integrity: None
    CVE-2025-39821 does not impact data integrity.
  • Availability: None
    CVE-2025-39821 does not affect system availability.

CVE-2025-39821 References

External References

CWE Common Weakness Enumeration

Unknown

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