3.3
LOW
CVE-2025-21860
Linux kernel zswap Inconsistent Charging Vulnerability
Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/zswap: fix inconsistency when zswap_store_page() fails Commit b7c0ccdfbafd ("mm: zswap: support large folios in zswap_store()") skips charging any zswap entries when it failed to zswap the entire folio. However, when some base pages are zswapped but it failed to zswap the entire folio, the zswap operation is rolled back. When freeing zswap entries for those pages, zswap_entry_free() uncharges the zswap entries that were not previously charged, causing zswap charging to become inconsistent. This inconsistency triggers two warnings with following steps: # On a machine with 64GiB of RAM and 36GiB of zswap $ stress-ng --bigheap 2 # wait until the OOM-killer kills stress-ng $ sudo reboot The two warnings are: in mm/memcontrol.c:163, function obj_cgroup_release(): WARN_ON_ONCE(nr_bytes & (PAGE_SIZE - 1)); in mm/page_counter.c:60, function page_counter_cancel(): if (WARN_ONCE(new < 0, "page_counter underflow: %ld nr_pages=%lu\n", new, nr_pages)) zswap_stored_pages also becomes inconsistent in the same way. As suggested by Kanchana, increment zswap_stored_pages and charge zswap entries within zswap_store_page() when it succeeds. This way, zswap_entry_free() will decrement the counter and uncharge the entries when it failed to zswap the entire folio. While this could potentially be optimized by batching objcg charging and incrementing the counter, let's focus on fixing the bug this time and leave the optimization for later after some evaluation. After resolving the inconsistency, the warnings disappear. [[email protected]: refactor zswap_store_page()] Link: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/[email protected]

INFO

Published Date :

March 12, 2025, 10:15 a.m.

Last Modified :

March 13, 2025, 9:14 p.m.

Source :

416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Remotely Exploitable :

No

Impact Score :

1.4

Exploitability Score :

1.8
Affected Products

The following products are affected by CVE-2025-21860 vulnerability. Even if cvefeed.io is aware of the exact versions of the products that are affected, the information is not represented in the table below.

ID Vendor Product Action
1 Linux linux_kernel
References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools

Here, you will find a curated list of external links that provide in-depth information, practical solutions, and valuable tools related to CVE-2025-21860.

URL Resource
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/63895d20d63b446f5049a963983489319c2ea3e2 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a3652f5552b20903315612da487a7be2b95394d5 Patch

We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).

Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.

The following list is the news that have been mention CVE-2025-21860 vulnerability anywhere in the article.

The following table lists the changes that have been made to the CVE-2025-21860 vulnerability over time.

Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.

  • Initial Analysis by [email protected]

    Mar. 13, 2025

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added CVSS V3.1 AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
    Added CWE NVD-CWE-noinfo
    Added CPE Configuration OR *cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.14:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.14:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.14:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 6.13 from (excluding) 6.13.5
    Added Reference Type kernel.org: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/63895d20d63b446f5049a963983489319c2ea3e2 Types: Patch
    Added Reference Type kernel.org: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a3652f5552b20903315612da487a7be2b95394d5 Types: Patch
  • New CVE Received by 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

    Mar. 12, 2025

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Description In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/zswap: fix inconsistency when zswap_store_page() fails Commit b7c0ccdfbafd ("mm: zswap: support large folios in zswap_store()") skips charging any zswap entries when it failed to zswap the entire folio. However, when some base pages are zswapped but it failed to zswap the entire folio, the zswap operation is rolled back. When freeing zswap entries for those pages, zswap_entry_free() uncharges the zswap entries that were not previously charged, causing zswap charging to become inconsistent. This inconsistency triggers two warnings with following steps: # On a machine with 64GiB of RAM and 36GiB of zswap $ stress-ng --bigheap 2 # wait until the OOM-killer kills stress-ng $ sudo reboot The two warnings are: in mm/memcontrol.c:163, function obj_cgroup_release(): WARN_ON_ONCE(nr_bytes & (PAGE_SIZE - 1)); in mm/page_counter.c:60, function page_counter_cancel(): if (WARN_ONCE(new < 0, "page_counter underflow: %ld nr_pages=%lu\n", new, nr_pages)) zswap_stored_pages also becomes inconsistent in the same way. As suggested by Kanchana, increment zswap_stored_pages and charge zswap entries within zswap_store_page() when it succeeds. This way, zswap_entry_free() will decrement the counter and uncharge the entries when it failed to zswap the entire folio. While this could potentially be optimized by batching objcg charging and incrementing the counter, let's focus on fixing the bug this time and leave the optimization for later after some evaluation. After resolving the inconsistency, the warnings disappear. [[email protected]: refactor zswap_store_page()] Link: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/[email protected]
    Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/63895d20d63b446f5049a963983489319c2ea3e2
    Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a3652f5552b20903315612da487a7be2b95394d5
EPSS is a daily estimate of the probability of exploitation activity being observed over the next 30 days. Following chart shows the EPSS score history of the vulnerability.
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration

While CVE identifies specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2025-21860 is associated with the following CWEs:

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC) stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2025-21860 weaknesses.

CVSS31 - Vulnerability Scoring System
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