# CVE-2025-21861: mm/migrate_device: don't add folio to be freed to LRU in migrate_device_finalize()

> A use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel's device migration code can cause a system crash or warning when folios are incorrectly added to the LRU list.

- **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:** 12 Mar 2025
- **Updated:** 15 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2025-21861, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-21861, GHSA-4r9v-vhgw-qfm4, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2025-21861, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-21861, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-21861, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-21861, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-21861

## What is CVE-2025-21861?

CVE-2025-21861 is a medium-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 12 Mar 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:

mm/migrate_device: don't add folio to be freed to LRU in migrate_device_finalize()

If migration succeeded, we called
folio_migrate_flags()->mem_cgroup_migrate() to migrate the memcg from the
old to the new folio.  This will set memcg_data of the old folio to 0.

Similarly, if migration failed, memcg_data of the dst folio is left unset.

If we call folio_putback_lru() on such folios (memcg_data == 0), we will
add the folio to be freed to the LRU, making memcg code unhappy.  Running
the hmm selftests:

  # ./hmm-tests
  ...
  #  RUN           hmm.hmm_device_private.migrate ...
  [  102.078007][T14893] page: refcount:1 mapcount:0 mapping:0000000000000000 index:0x7ff27d200 pfn:0x13cc00
  [  102.079974][T14893] anon flags: 0x17ff00000020018(uptodate|dirty|swapbacked|node=0|zone=2|lastcpupid=0x7ff)
  [  102.082037][T14893] raw: 017ff00000020018 dead000000000100 dead000000000122 ffff8881353896c9
  [  102.083687][T14893] raw: 00000007ff27d200 0000000000000000 00000001ffffffff 0000000000000000
  [  102.085331][T14893] page dumped because: VM_WARN_ON_ONCE_FOLIO(!memcg && !mem_cgroup_disabled())
  [  102.087230][T14893] ------------[ cut here ]------------
  [  102.088279][T14893] WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 14893 at ./include/linux/memcontrol.h:726 folio_lruvec_lock_irqsave+0x10e/0x170
  [  102.090478][T14893] Modules linked in:
  [  102.091244][T14893] CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 14893 Comm: hmm-tests Not tainted 6.13.0-09623-g6c216bc522fd #151
  [  102.093089][T14893] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 1.16.3-2.fc40 04/01/2014
  [  102.094848][T14893] RIP: 0010:folio_lruvec_lock_irqsave+0x10e/0x170
  [  102.096104][T14893] Code: ...
  [  102.099908][T14893] RSP: 0018:ffffc900236c37b0 EFLAGS: 00010293
  [  102.101152][T14893] RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffffea0004f30000 RCX: ffffffff8183f426
  [  102.102684][T14893] RDX: ffff8881063cb880 RSI: ffffffff81b8117f RDI: ffff8881063cb880
  [  102.104227][T14893] RBP: 0000000000000000 R08: 0000000000000005 R09: 0000000000000000
  [  102.105757][T14893] R10: 0000000000000001 R11: 0000000000000002 R12: ffffc900236c37d8
  [  102.107296][T14893] R13: ffff888277a2bcb0 R14: 000000000000001f R15: 0000000000000000
  [  102.108830][T14893] FS:  00007ff27dbdd740(0000) GS:ffff888277a00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
  [  102.110643][T14893] CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
  [  102.111924][T14893] CR2: 00007ff27d400000 CR3: 000000010866e000 CR4: 0000000000750ef0
  [  102.113478][T14893] PKRU: 55555554
  [  102.114172][T14893] Call Trace:
  [  102.114805][T14893]  <TASK>
  [  102.115397][T14893]  ? folio_lruvec_lock_irqsave+0x10e/0x170
  [  102.116547][T14893]  ? __warn.cold+0x110/0x210
  [  102.117461][T14893]  ? folio_lruvec_lock_irqsave+0x10e/0x170
  [  102.118667][T14893]  ? report_bug+0x1b9/0x320
  [  102.119571][T14893]  ? handle_bug+0x54/0x90
  [  102.120494][T14893]  ? exc_invalid_op+0x17/0x50
  [  102.121433][T14893]  ? asm_exc_invalid_op+0x1a/0x20
  [  102.122435][T14893]  ? __wake_up_klogd.part.0+0x76/0xd0
  [  102.123506][T14893]  ? dump_page+0x4f/0x60
  [  102.124352][T14893]  ? folio_lruvec_lock_irqsave+0x10e/0x170
  [  102.125500][T14893]  folio_batch_move_lru+0xd4/0x200
  [  102.126577][T14893]  ? __pfx_lru_add+0x10/0x10
  [  102.127505][T14893]  __folio_batch_add_and_move+0x391/0x720
  [  102.128633][T14893]  ? __pfx_lru_add+0x10/0x10
  [  102.129550][T14893]  folio_putback_lru+0x16/0x80
  [  102.130564][T14893]  migrate_device_finalize+0x9b/0x530
  [  102.131640][T14893]  dmirror_migrate_to_device.constprop.0+0x7c5/0xad0
  [  102.133047][T14893]  dmirror_fops_unlocked_ioctl+0x89b/0xc80

Likely, nothing else goes wrong: putting the last folio reference will
remove the folio from the LRU again.  So besides memcg complaining, adding
the folio to be freed to the LRU is just an unnecessary step.

The new flow resembles what we have in migrate_folio_move(): add the dst
to the lru, rem
---truncated---

Weakness: CWE-416 (Use After Free)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-21861?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-21861?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-21861 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-21861 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-2025-21861 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-21861 is a medium-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 12 Mar 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-2025-21861 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-2025-21861/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-21861/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-21861
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-21861
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-21861

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-21861/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.