# CVE-2025-21688: drm/v3d: Assign job pointer to NULL before signaling the fence > A race condition in the Linux kernel's v3d driver can cause a NULL pointer dereference and system crash when GPU jobs complete. - **Severity:** Medium 4.7 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/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:** 10 Feb 2025 - **Updated:** 23 May 2026 - **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2025-21688, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-21688, GHSA-gjcc-jpc7-jff7, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-21688 ## What is CVE-2025-21688? CVE-2025-21688 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 10 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: drm/v3d: Assign job pointer to NULL before signaling the fence In commit e4b5ccd392b9 ("drm/v3d: Ensure job pointer is set to NULL after job completion"), we introduced a change to assign the job pointer to NULL after completing a job, indicating job completion. However, this approach created a race condition between the DRM scheduler workqueue and the IRQ execution thread. As soon as the fence is signaled in the IRQ execution thread, a new job starts to be executed. This results in a race condition where the IRQ execution thread sets the job pointer to NULL simultaneously as the `run_job()` function assigns a new job to the pointer. This race condition can lead to a NULL pointer dereference if the IRQ execution thread sets the job pointer to NULL after `run_job()` assigns it to the new job. When the new job completes and the GPU emits an interrupt, `v3d_irq()` is triggered, potentially causing a crash. [ 466.310099] Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 00000000000000c0 [ 466.318928] Mem abort info: [ 466.321723] ESR = 0x0000000096000005 [ 466.325479] EC = 0x25: DABT (current EL), IL = 32 bits [ 466.330807] SET = 0, FnV = 0 [ 466.333864] EA = 0, S1PTW = 0 [ 466.337010] FSC = 0x05: level 1 translation fault [ 466.341900] Data abort info: [ 466.344783] ISV = 0, ISS = 0x00000005, ISS2 = 0x00000000 [ 466.350285] CM = 0, WnR = 0, TnD = 0, TagAccess = 0 [ 466.355350] GCS = 0, Overlay = 0, DirtyBit = 0, Xs = 0 [ 466.360677] user pgtable: 4k pages, 39-bit VAs, pgdp=0000000089772000 [ 466.367140] [00000000000000c0] pgd=0000000000000000, p4d=0000000000000000, pud=0000000000000000 [ 466.375875] Internal error: Oops: 0000000096000005 [#1] PREEMPT SMP [ 466.382163] Modules linked in: rfcomm snd_seq_dummy snd_hrtimer snd_seq snd_seq_device algif_hash algif_skcipher af_alg bnep binfmt_misc vc4 snd_soc_hdmi_codec drm_display_helper cec brcmfmac_wcc spidev rpivid_hevc(C) drm_client_lib brcmfmac hci_uart drm_dma_helper pisp_be btbcm brcmutil snd_soc_core aes_ce_blk v4l2_mem2mem bluetooth aes_ce_cipher snd_compress videobuf2_dma_contig ghash_ce cfg80211 gf128mul snd_pcm_dmaengine videobuf2_memops ecdh_generic sha2_ce ecc videobuf2_v4l2 snd_pcm v3d sha256_arm64 rfkill videodev snd_timer sha1_ce libaes gpu_sched snd videobuf2_common sha1_generic drm_shmem_helper mc rp1_pio drm_kms_helper raspberrypi_hwmon spi_bcm2835 gpio_keys i2c_brcmstb rp1 raspberrypi_gpiomem rp1_mailbox rp1_adc nvmem_rmem uio_pdrv_genirq uio i2c_dev drm ledtrig_pattern drm_panel_orientation_quirks backlight fuse dm_mod ip_tables x_tables ipv6 [ 466.458429] CPU: 0 UID: 1000 PID: 2008 Comm: chromium Tainted: G C 6.13.0-v8+ #18 [ 466.467336] Tainted: [C]=CRAP [ 466.470306] Hardware name: Raspberry Pi 5 Model B Rev 1.0 (DT) [ 466.476157] pstate: 404000c9 (nZcv daIF +PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) [ 466.483143] pc : v3d_irq+0x118/0x2e0 [v3d] [ 466.487258] lr : __handle_irq_event_percpu+0x60/0x228 [ 466.492327] sp : ffffffc080003ea0 [ 466.495646] x29: ffffffc080003ea0 x28: ffffff80c0c94200 x27: 0000000000000000 [ 466.502807] x26: ffffffd08dd81d7b x25: ffffff80c0c94200 x24: ffffff8003bdc200 [ 466.509969] x23: 0000000000000001 x22: 00000000000000a7 x21: 0000000000000000 [ 466.517130] x20: ffffff8041bb0000 x19: 0000000000000001 x18: 0000000000000000 [ 466.524291] x17: ffffffafadfb0000 x16: ffffffc080000000 x15: 0000000000000000 [ 466.531452] x14: 0000000000000000 x13: 0000000000000000 x12: 0000000000000000 [ 466.538613] x11: 0000000000000000 x10: 0000000000000000 x9 : ffffffd08c527eb0 [ 466.545777] x8 : 0000000000000000 x7 : 0000000000000000 x6 : 0000000000000000 [ 466.552941] x5 : ffffffd08c4100d0 x4 : ffffffafadfb0000 x3 : ffffffc080003f70 [ 466.560102] x2 : ffffffc0829e8058 x1 : 0000000000000001 x0 : 0000000000000000 [ 466.567263] Call trace: [ 466.569711] v3d_irq+0x118/0x2e0 [v3d] (P) [ 466. ---truncated--- Weakness: CWE-362 (Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization) ## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-21688? It affects 1 product. Products: Linux kernel. ## How do I fix CVE-2025-21688? Apply the vendor's patch. ## Is CVE-2025-21688 being exploited? There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-21688 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-2025-21688 and fix it if it is affected. What it is: CVE-2025-21688 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 10 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-2025-21688 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-2025-21688/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-21688/index.md) ``` ## Sources - CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-21688 - NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-21688 - OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-21688 --- From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-21688/ Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.