# CVE-2025-21713: powerpc/pseries/iommu: Don't unset window if it was never set

> A local attacker can trigger a kernel crash by attaching a VFIO group to a container, causing a null pointer dereference in the PowerPC IOMMU driver.

- **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:** 27 Feb 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2025-21713, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-21713, GHSA-r24p-j496-7rxg, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-21713

## What is CVE-2025-21713?

CVE-2025-21713 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 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:

powerpc/pseries/iommu: Don't unset window if it was never set

On pSeries, when user attempts to use the same vfio container used by
different iommu group, the spapr_tce_set_window() returns -EPERM
and the subsequent cleanup leads to the below crash.

   Kernel attempted to read user page (308) - exploit attempt?
   BUG: Kernel NULL pointer dereference on read at 0x00000308
   Faulting instruction address: 0xc0000000001ce358
   Oops: Kernel access of bad area, sig: 11 [#1]
   NIP:  c0000000001ce358 LR: c0000000001ce05c CTR: c00000000005add0
   <snip>
   NIP [c0000000001ce358] spapr_tce_unset_window+0x3b8/0x510
   LR [c0000000001ce05c] spapr_tce_unset_window+0xbc/0x510
   Call Trace:
     spapr_tce_unset_window+0xbc/0x510 (unreliable)
     tce_iommu_attach_group+0x24c/0x340 [vfio_iommu_spapr_tce]
     vfio_container_attach_group+0xec/0x240 [vfio]
     vfio_group_fops_unl_ioctl+0x548/0xb00 [vfio]
     sys_ioctl+0x754/0x1580
     system_call_exception+0x13c/0x330
     system_call_vectored_common+0x15c/0x2ec
   <snip>
   --- interrupt: 3000

Fix this by having null check for the tbl passed to the
spapr_tce_unset_window().

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-21713?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-21713?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-21713 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-21713 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-2025-21713 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-21713 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 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-2025-21713 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-2025-21713/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-21713/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-21713
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-21713
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-21713

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-21713/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.