Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2025-21668

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-01-31
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.1.127 / 6.6.74 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click Patch available

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: pmdomain: imx8mp-blk-ctrl: add missing loop break condition Currently imx8mp_blk_ctrl_remove() will continue the for loop until an out-of-bounds exception occurs. pstate: 60000005 (nZCv daif -PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) pc : dev_pm_domain_detach+0x8/0x48 lr : imx8mp_blk_ctrl_shutdown+0x58/0x90 sp : ffffffc084f8bbf0 x29: ffffffc084f8bbf0 x28: ffffff80daf32ac0 x27: 0000000000000000 x26: ffffffc081658d78 x25: 0000000000000001 x24: ffffffc08201b028 x23: ffffff80d0db9490 x22: ffffffc082340a78 x21: 00000000000005b0 x20: ffffff80d19bc180 x19: 000000000000000a x18: ffffffffffffffff x17: ffffffc080a39e08 x16: ffffffc080a39c98 x15: 4f435f464f006c72 x14: 0000000000000004 x13: ffffff80d0172110 x12: 0000000000000000 x11: ffffff80d0537740 x10: ffffff80d05376c0 x9 : ffffffc0808ed2d8 x8 : ffffffc084f8bab0 x7 : 0000000000000000 x6 : 0000000000000000 x5 : ffffff80d19b9420 x4 : fffffffe03466e60 x3 : 0000000080800077 x2 : 0000000000000000 x1 : 0000000000000001 x0 : 0000000000000000 Call trace: dev_pm_domain_detach+0x8/0x48 platform_shutdown+0x2c/0x48 device_shutdown+0x158/0x268 kernel_restart_prepare+0x40/0x58 kernel_kexec+0x58/0xe8 __do_sys_reboot+0x198/0x258 __arm64_sys_reboot+0x2c/0x40 invoke_syscall+0x5c/0x138 el0_svc_common.constprop.0+0x48/0xf0 do_el0_svc+0x24/0x38 el0_svc+0x38/0xc8 el0t_64_sync_handler+0x120/0x130 el0t_64_sync+0x190/0x198 Code: 8128c2d0 ffffffc0 aa1e03e9 d503201f

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis
How this class of weakness works · CWE-835

Crafted input drives a loop whose exit condition is never satisfied, hanging the thread and starving the service of the resource it occupies. A single request can be enough to take a worker down. Remediation is bounding iteration counts and validating the conditions that are supposed to terminate the loop.

General guidance for the infinite loop class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Linux KernelOperating system
Affected:>= 5.19, < 6.1.127>= 6.2, < 6.6.74>= 6.7, < 6.12.11= 6.13

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 6.1.127 / 6.6.74 / 6.12.11 or later
Fixed in 6.1.1276.6.746.12.11
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

6.1.127+ / 6.6.74+ / 6.12.11+ (depending on current branch)

  1. Identify the currently running Linux kernel version using `uname -r` or `cat /proc/version`
  2. Determine which branch the current kernel falls into based on affected versions: 5.19-6.1.x, 6.2-6.6.x, 6.7-6.12.x, or 6.13.x
  3. Upgrade to a patched kernel release: 6.1.127 or later for 6.1.x branch, 6.6.74 or later for 6.2-6.6.x branch, 6.12.11 or later for 6.7-6.12.x branch
  4. For 6.13.x branch, apply the upstream patch commit 488a68c948bc52dc2a4554a56fdd99aa67c49b06 or wait for a stable release containing the fix
  5. Reboot the system after kernel upgrade to load the patched kernel
Caveat Kernel upgrade may require rebuild of out-of-tree kernel modules; ensure hardware-specific drivers are compatible with the new kernel version

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $1,600. Get the upgrade done

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-21668 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-21668 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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