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CVE-2025-21643

5.5 · MEDIUM

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netfs: Fix kernel async DIO Netfslib needs to be able to handle kernel-initiated asynchronous DIO that is supplied with a bio_v…

Published Jan 19, 2025EPSS 0.21%

Overview

CVE-2025-21643 is a medium-severity vulnerability. It was published on January 19, 2025 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.5 (MEDIUM).

This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.5, rated MEDIUM. It requires local or adjacent network access to exploit. Some level of privileges is required for exploitation.

Technical description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

netfs: Fix kernel async DIO

Netfslib needs to be able to handle kernel-initiated asynchronous DIO that

is supplied with a bio_vec[] array. Currently, because of the async flag,

this gets passed to netfs_extract_user_iter() which throws a warning and

fails because it only handles IOVEC and UBUF iterators. This can be

triggered through a combination of cifs and a loopback blockdev with

something like:

mount //my/cifs/share /foo

dd if=/dev/zero of=/foo/m0 bs=4K count=1K

losetup --sector-size 4096 --direct-io=on /dev/loop2046 /foo/m0

echo hello >/dev/loop2046

This causes the following to appear in syslog:

WARNING: CPU: 2 PID: 109 at fs/netfs/iterator.c:50 netfs_extract_user_iter+0x170/0x250 [netfs]

and the write to fail.

Fix this by removing the check in netfs_unbuffered_write_iter_locked() that

causes async kernel DIO writes to be handled as userspace writes. Note

that thi

Remediation

Check the references section for vendor advisories, patches, and mitigation guidance. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2025-21643?

CVE-2025-21643 is a medium-severity vulnerability. It was published on January 19, 2025 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.5 (MEDIUM).

How severe is CVE-2025-21643?

This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.5, rated MEDIUM. It requires local or adjacent network access to exploit. Some level of privileges is required for exploitation.

How do I fix or remediate CVE-2025-21643?

Check the references section for vendor advisories, patches, and mitigation guidance. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.

How can CyberStrike help with CVE-2025-21643?

CyberStrike is an open-source, AI-augmented pentesting engine. Rather than flag a version number, it tests whether an issue like CVE-2025-21643 is actually reachable in your own applications and APIs, then verifies each finding before reporting it. That tells you if the weakness is a real, exploitable risk in your environment or a false positive you can safely deprioritize.

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