# CVE-2025-21684: gpio: xilinx: Convert gpio_lock to raw spinlock

> A locking context mismatch in the Xilinx GPIO driver can cause a kernel bug and potential denial of service.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 9 Feb 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-56546, AZL-56550, BELL-CVE-2025-21684, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-21684, GHSA-m4w5-f9xf-8fgr, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-21684

## What is CVE-2025-21684?

CVE-2025-21684 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 9 Feb 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

gpio: xilinx: Convert gpio_lock to raw spinlock

irq_chip functions may be called in raw spinlock context. Therefore, we
must also use a raw spinlock for our own internal locking.

This fixes the following lockdep splat:

[    5.349336] =============================
[    5.353349] [ BUG: Invalid wait context ]
[    5.357361] 6.13.0-rc5+ #69 Tainted: G        W
[    5.363031] -----------------------------
[    5.367045] kworker/u17:1/44 is trying to lock:
[    5.371587] ffffff88018b02c0 (&chip->gpio_lock){....}-{3:3}, at: xgpio_irq_unmask (drivers/gpio/gpio-xilinx.c:433 (discriminator 8))
[    5.380079] other info that might help us debug this:
[    5.385138] context-{5:5}
[    5.387762] 5 locks held by kworker/u17:1/44:
[    5.392123] #0: ffffff8800014958 ((wq_completion)events_unbound){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: process_one_work (kernel/workqueue.c:3204)
[    5.402260] #1: ffffffc082fcbdd8 (deferred_probe_work){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: process_one_work (kernel/workqueue.c:3205)
[    5.411528] #2: ffffff880172c900 (&dev->mutex){....}-{4:4}, at: __device_attach (drivers/base/dd.c:1006)
[    5.419929] #3: ffffff88039c8268 (request_class#2){+.+.}-{4:4}, at: __setup_irq (kernel/irq/internals.h:156 kernel/irq/manage.c:1596)
[    5.428331] #4: ffffff88039c80c8 (lock_class#2){....}-{2:2}, at: __setup_irq (kernel/irq/manage.c:1614)
[    5.436472] stack backtrace:
[    5.439359] CPU: 2 UID: 0 PID: 44 Comm: kworker/u17:1 Tainted: G        W          6.13.0-rc5+ #69
[    5.448690] Tainted: [W]=WARN
[    5.451656] Hardware name: xlnx,zynqmp (DT)
[    5.455845] Workqueue: events_unbound deferred_probe_work_func
[    5.461699] Call trace:
[    5.464147] show_stack+0x18/0x24 C
[    5.467821] dump_stack_lvl (lib/dump_stack.c:123)
[    5.471501] dump_stack (lib/dump_stack.c:130)
[    5.474824] __lock_acquire (kernel/locking/lockdep.c:4828 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:4898 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5176)
[    5.478758] lock_acquire (arch/arm64/include/asm/percpu.h:40 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:467 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5851 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5814)
[    5.482429] _raw_spin_lock_irqsave (include/linux/spinlock_api_smp.h:111 kernel/locking/spinlock.c:162)
[    5.486797] xgpio_irq_unmask (drivers/gpio/gpio-xilinx.c:433 (discriminator 8))
[    5.490737] irq_enable (kernel/irq/internals.h:236 kernel/irq/chip.c:170 kernel/irq/chip.c:439 kernel/irq/chip.c:432 kernel/irq/chip.c:345)
[    5.494060] __irq_startup (kernel/irq/internals.h:241 kernel/irq/chip.c:180 kernel/irq/chip.c:250)
[    5.497645] irq_startup (kernel/irq/chip.c:270)
[    5.501143] __setup_irq (kernel/irq/manage.c:1807)
[    5.504728] request_threaded_irq (kernel/irq/manage.c:2208)

Weakness: CWE-667 (Improper Locking)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-21684?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-21684?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-21684 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-21684 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-21684 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-21684 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 9 Feb 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-21684 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-21684/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-21684/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-21684
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-21684
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-21684

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-21684/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.