# CVE-2025-21951: bus: mhi: host: pci_generic: Use pci_try_reset_function() to avoid deadlock

> A race condition in the Linux kernel MHI host driver can cause a deadlock during device recovery, leading to a denial of service.

- **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:** 1 Apr 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-59916, AZL-59972, BELL-CVE-2025-21951, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-21951, GHSA-pf4f-8wpm-5vh2, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-21951, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-21951

## What is CVE-2025-21951?

CVE-2025-21951 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 1 Apr 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:

bus: mhi: host: pci_generic: Use pci_try_reset_function() to avoid deadlock

There are multiple places from where the recovery work gets scheduled
asynchronously. Also, there are multiple places where the caller waits
synchronously for the recovery to be completed. One such place is during
the PM shutdown() callback.

If the device is not alive during recovery_work, it will try to reset the
device using pci_reset_function(). This function internally will take the
device_lock() first before resetting the device. By this time, if the lock
has already been acquired, then recovery_work will get stalled while
waiting for the lock. And if the lock was already acquired by the caller
which waits for the recovery_work to be completed, it will lead to
deadlock.

This is what happened on the X1E80100 CRD device when the device died
before shutdown() callback. Driver core calls the driver's shutdown()
callback while holding the device_lock() leading to deadlock.

And this deadlock scenario can occur on other paths as well, like during
the PM suspend() callback, where the driver core would hold the
device_lock() before calling driver's suspend() callback. And if the
recovery_work was already started, it could lead to deadlock. This is also
observed on the X1E80100 CRD.

So to fix both issues, use pci_try_reset_function() in recovery_work. This
function first checks for the availability of the device_lock() before
trying to reset the device. If the lock is available, it will acquire it
and reset the device. Otherwise, it will return -EAGAIN. If that happens,
recovery_work will fail with the error message "Recovery failed" as not
much could be done.

Weakness: CWE-667 (Improper Locking)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-21951?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-21951?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-21951 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-21951 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-2025-21951 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-21951 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 1 Apr 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-2025-21951 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-2025-21951/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-21951/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-21951
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-21951
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-21951

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-21951/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.