# CVE-2025-21772: partitions: mac: fix handling of bogus partition table

> A memory corruption vulnerability in the Linux kernel's Mac partition handling allows attackers to cause out-of-bounds access, potentially leading to code execution or system crashes.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:** 15 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2025-21772, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-21772, GHSA-rwf4-wmp4-834q, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-21772, SUSE-SU-2025:02393-1, SUSE-SU-2025:02438-1, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-21772

## What is CVE-2025-21772?

CVE-2025-21772 is a high-severity memory corruption 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:

partitions: mac: fix handling of bogus partition table

Fix several issues in partition probing:

 - The bailout for a bad partoffset must use put_dev_sector(), since the
   preceding read_part_sector() succeeded.
 - If the partition table claims a silly sector size like 0xfff bytes
   (which results in partition table entries straddling sector boundaries),
   bail out instead of accessing out-of-bounds memory.
 - We must not assume that the partition table contains proper NUL
   termination - use strnlen() and strncmp() instead of strlen() and
   strcmp().

Weakness: CWE-787 (Out-of-bounds Write)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-21772?

It affects 1 product.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP5_Update_23` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP5 | All versions | 3-150500.2.1 |
| `kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP5_Update_24` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP5 | All versions | 3-150500.2.1 |

Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-21772?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-21772 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-21772 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-2025-21772 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-21772 is a high-severity memory corruption 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-2025-21772 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-2025-21772/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-21772/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-21772
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-21772
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-21772

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-21772/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.