# CVE-2025-21778: tracing: Do not allow mmap() of persistent ring buffer

> A local attacker can crash the Linux kernel by attempting to mmap a persistent ring buffer, causing a null pointer dereference.

- **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:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2025-21778, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-21778, GHSA-9x83-7qxw-53vc, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-21778

## What is CVE-2025-21778?

CVE-2025-21778 is a high-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:

tracing: Do not allow mmap() of persistent ring buffer

When trying to mmap a trace instance buffer that is attached to
reserve_mem, it would crash:

 BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: ffffe97bd00025c8
 #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode
 #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page
 PGD 2862f3067 P4D 2862f3067 PUD 0
 Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT_RT SMP PTI
 CPU: 4 UID: 0 PID: 981 Comm: mmap-rb Not tainted 6.14.0-rc2-test-00003-g7f1a5e3fbf9e-dirty #233
 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 1.16.3-debian-1.16.3-2 04/01/2014
 RIP: 0010:validate_page_before_insert+0x5/0xb0
 Code: e2 01 89 d0 c3 cc cc cc cc 66 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 0f 1f 44 00 00 <48> 8b 46 08 a8 01 75 67 66 90 48 89 f0 8b 50 34 85 d2 74 76 48 89
 RSP: 0018:ffffb148c2f3f968 EFLAGS: 00010246
 RAX: ffff9fa5d3322000 RBX: ffff9fa5ccff9c08 RCX: 00000000b879ed29
 RDX: ffffe97bd00025c0 RSI: ffffe97bd00025c0 RDI: ffff9fa5ccff9c08
 RBP: ffffb148c2f3f9f0 R08: 0000000000000004 R09: 0000000000000004
 R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000200 R12: 0000000000000000
 R13: 00007f16a18d5000 R14: ffff9fa5c48db6a8 R15: 0000000000000000
 FS:  00007f16a1b54740(0000) GS:ffff9fa73df00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
 CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
 CR2: ffffe97bd00025c8 CR3: 00000001048c6006 CR4: 0000000000172ef0
 Call Trace:
  <TASK>
  ? __die_body.cold+0x19/0x1f
  ? __die+0x2e/0x40
  ? page_fault_oops+0x157/0x2b0
  ? search_module_extables+0x53/0x80
  ? validate_page_before_insert+0x5/0xb0
  ? kernelmode_fixup_or_oops.isra.0+0x5f/0x70
  ? __bad_area_nosemaphore+0x16e/0x1b0
  ? bad_area_nosemaphore+0x16/0x20
  ? do_kern_addr_fault+0x77/0x90
  ? exc_page_fault+0x22b/0x230
  ? asm_exc_page_fault+0x2b/0x30
  ? validate_page_before_insert+0x5/0xb0
  ? vm_insert_pages+0x151/0x400
  __rb_map_vma+0x21f/0x3f0
  ring_buffer_map+0x21b/0x2f0
  tracing_buffers_mmap+0x70/0xd0
  __mmap_region+0x6f0/0xbd0
  mmap_region+0x7f/0x130
  do_mmap+0x475/0x610
  vm_mmap_pgoff+0xf2/0x1d0
  ksys_mmap_pgoff+0x166/0x200
  __x64_sys_mmap+0x37/0x50
  x64_sys_call+0x1670/0x1d70
  do_syscall_64+0xbb/0x1d0
  entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f

The reason was that the code that maps the ring buffer pages to user space
has:

	page = virt_to_page((void *)cpu_buffer->subbuf_ids[s]);

And uses that in:

	vm_insert_pages(vma, vma->vm_start, pages, &nr_pages);

But virt_to_page() does not work with vmap()'d memory which is what the
persistent ring buffer has. It is rather trivial to allow this, but for
now just disable mmap() of instances that have their ring buffer from the
reserve_mem option.

If an mmap() is performed on a persistent buffer it will return -ENODEV
just like it would if the .mmap field wasn't defined in the
file_operations structure.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-21778?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-21778?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-21778 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-21778 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-2025-21778 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-21778 is a high-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-2025-21778 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-2025-21778/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-21778/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-21778
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-21778
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-21778

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-21778/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.