# CVE-2025-21869: powerpc/code-patching: Disable KASAN report during patching via temporary mm

> A false positive KASAN report during PowerPC code patching can cause kernel panics, requiring a patch to disable the report during temporary memory mapping.

- **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 Mar 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2025-21869, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-21869, GHSA-p4m8-c64v-m3v8, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-21869, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-21869

## What is CVE-2025-21869?

CVE-2025-21869 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 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:

powerpc/code-patching: Disable KASAN report during patching via temporary mm

Erhard reports the following KASAN hit on Talos II (power9) with kernel 6.13:

[   12.028126] ==================================================================
[   12.028198] BUG: KASAN: user-memory-access in copy_to_kernel_nofault+0x8c/0x1a0
[   12.028260] Write of size 8 at addr 0000187e458f2000 by task systemd/1

[   12.028346] CPU: 87 UID: 0 PID: 1 Comm: systemd Tainted: G                T  6.13.0-P9-dirty #3
[   12.028408] Tainted: [T]=RANDSTRUCT
[   12.028446] Hardware name: T2P9D01 REV 1.01 POWER9 0x4e1202 opal:skiboot-bc106a0 PowerNV
[   12.028500] Call Trace:
[   12.028536] [c000000008dbf3b0] [c000000001656a48] dump_stack_lvl+0xbc/0x110 (unreliable)
[   12.028609] [c000000008dbf3f0] [c0000000006e2fc8] print_report+0x6b0/0x708
[   12.028666] [c000000008dbf4e0] [c0000000006e2454] kasan_report+0x164/0x300
[   12.028725] [c000000008dbf600] [c0000000006e54d4] kasan_check_range+0x314/0x370
[   12.028784] [c000000008dbf640] [c0000000006e6310] __kasan_check_write+0x20/0x40
[   12.028842] [c000000008dbf660] [c000000000578e8c] copy_to_kernel_nofault+0x8c/0x1a0
[   12.028902] [c000000008dbf6a0] [c0000000000acfe4] __patch_instructions+0x194/0x210
[   12.028965] [c000000008dbf6e0] [c0000000000ade80] patch_instructions+0x150/0x590
[   12.029026] [c000000008dbf7c0] [c0000000001159bc] bpf_arch_text_copy+0x6c/0xe0
[   12.029085] [c000000008dbf800] [c000000000424250] bpf_jit_binary_pack_finalize+0x40/0xc0
[   12.029147] [c000000008dbf830] [c000000000115dec] bpf_int_jit_compile+0x3bc/0x930
[   12.029206] [c000000008dbf990] [c000000000423720] bpf_prog_select_runtime+0x1f0/0x280
[   12.029266] [c000000008dbfa00] [c000000000434b18] bpf_prog_load+0xbb8/0x1370
[   12.029324] [c000000008dbfb70] [c000000000436ebc] __sys_bpf+0x5ac/0x2e00
[   12.029379] [c000000008dbfd00] [c00000000043a228] sys_bpf+0x28/0x40
[   12.029435] [c000000008dbfd20] [c000000000038eb4] system_call_exception+0x334/0x610
[   12.029497] [c000000008dbfe50] [c00000000000c270] system_call_vectored_common+0xf0/0x280
[   12.029561] --- interrupt: 3000 at 0x3fff82f5cfa8
[   12.029608] NIP:  00003fff82f5cfa8 LR: 00003fff82f5cfa8 CTR: 0000000000000000
[   12.029660] REGS: c000000008dbfe80 TRAP: 3000   Tainted: G                T   (6.13.0-P9-dirty)
[   12.029735] MSR:  900000000280f032 <SF,HV,VEC,VSX,EE,PR,FP,ME,IR,DR,RI>  CR: 42004848  XER: 00000000
[   12.029855] IRQMASK: 0
               GPR00: 0000000000000169 00003fffdcf789a0 00003fff83067100 0000000000000005
               GPR04: 00003fffdcf78a98 0000000000000090 0000000000000000 0000000000000008
               GPR08: 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000
               GPR12: 0000000000000000 00003fff836ff7e0 c000000000010678 0000000000000000
               GPR16: 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 00003fffdcf78f28 00003fffdcf78f90
               GPR20: 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 00003fffdcf78f80
               GPR24: 00003fffdcf78f70 00003fffdcf78d10 00003fff835c7239 00003fffdcf78bd8
               GPR28: 00003fffdcf78a98 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 000000011f547580
[   12.030316] NIP [00003fff82f5cfa8] 0x3fff82f5cfa8
[   12.030361] LR [00003fff82f5cfa8] 0x3fff82f5cfa8
[   12.030405] --- interrupt: 3000
[   12.030444] ==================================================================

Commit c28c15b6d28a ("powerpc/code-patching: Use temporary mm for
Radix MMU") is inspired from x86 but unlike x86 is doesn't disable
KASAN reports during patching. This wasn't a problem at the begining
because __patch_mem() is not instrumented.

Commit 465cabc97b42 ("powerpc/code-patching: introduce
patch_instructions()") use copy_to_kernel_nofault() to copy several
instructions at once. But when using temporary mm the destination is
not regular kernel memory but a kind of kernel-like memory located
in user address space. 
---truncated---

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

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-21869?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-21869?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-21869 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-21869 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-2025-21869 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-21869 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 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-2025-21869 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-2025-21869/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-21869/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-21869
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-21869
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-21869

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-21869/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.