hrtimers: Force migrate away hrtimers queued after CPUHP_AP_HRTIMERS_DYING
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · High
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 2 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: hrtimers: Force migrate away hrtimers queued after CPUHP_AP_HRTIMERS_DYING hrtimers are migrated away from the dying CPU to any online target at the CPUHP_AP_HRTIMERS_DYING stage in order not to delay bandwidth timers handling tasks involved in the CPU hotplug forward progress. However wakeups can still be performed by the outgoing CPU after CPUHP_AP_HRTIMERS_DYING. Those can result again in bandwidth timers being armed. Depending on several considerations (crystal ball power management based election, earliest timer already enqueued, timer migration enabled or not), the target may eventually be the current CPU even if offline. If that happens, the timer is eventually ignored. The most notable example is RCU which had to deal with each and every of those wake-ups by deferring them to an online CPU, along with related workarounds: _ e787644caf76 (rcu: Defer RCU kthreads wakeup when CPU is dying) _ 9139f93209d1 (rcu/nocb: Fix RT throttling hrtimer armed from offline CPU) _ f7345ccc62a4 (rcu/nocb: Fix rcuog wake-up from offline softirq) The problem isn't confined to RCU though as the stop machine kthread (which runs CPUHP_AP_HRTIMERS_DYING) reports its completion at the end of its work through cpu_stop_signal_done() and performs a wake up that eventually arms the deadline server timer: WARNING: CPU: 94 PID: 588 at kernel/time/hrtimer.c:1086 hrtimer_start_range_ns+0x289/0x2d0 CPU: 94 UID: 0 PID: 588 Comm: migration/94 Not tainted Stopper: multi_cpu_stop+0x0/0x120 <- stop_machine_cpuslocked+0x66/0xc0 RIP: 0010:hrtimer_start_range_ns+0x289/0x2d0 Call Trace: <TASK> start_dl_timer enqueue_dl_entity dl_server_start enqueue_task_fair enqueue_task ttwu_do_activate try_to_wake_up complete cpu_stopper_thread Instead of providing yet another bandaid to work around the situation, fix it in the hrtimers infrastructure instead: always migrate away a timer to an online target whenever it is enqueued from an offline CPU. This will also allow to revert all the above RCU disgraceful hacks.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | 6.1.68 to before 6.1.141; 6.6.7 to before 6.6.93; 4.19.302 to before 4.20; 5.4.264 to before 5.5; 5.10.204 to before 5.11; 5.15.143 to before 5.16 | 6.1.141, 6.6.93, 4.20, 5.5, 5.11, 5.16 | Patch available | CNA |
| Linux | Linux | 6.7 and later | 6.1.141, 6.6.93, 6.12.14, 6.13.3, 6.14 | Patch available | CNA |
- Linux VendorLinux Affected 6.1.68 to before 6.1.141; 6.6.7 to before 6.6.93; 4.19.302 to before 4.20; 5.4.264 to before 5.5; 5.10.204 to before 5.11; 5.15.143 to before 5.16 Fixed in 6.1.141, 6.6.93, 4.20, 5.5, 5.11, 5.16 Patch available CNA
- Linux VendorLinux Affected 6.7 and later Fixed in 6.1.141, 6.6.93, 6.12.14, 6.13.3, 6.14 Patch available CNA
CPE configurations NVD · 10
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 4.19.302 to before 4.20; 5.4.264 to before 5.5; 5.10.204 to before 5.11; 5.15.143 to before 5.16; 6.1.68 to before 6.1.141; 6.6.7 to before 6.6.93; 6.7.1 to before 6.12.14; 6.13 to before 6.13.3 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.7:-:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.7 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.7:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.7 rc2 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.7:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.7 rc3 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.7:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.7 rc4 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.7:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.7 rc5 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.7:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.7 rc6 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.7:rc7:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.7 rc7 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.7:rc8:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.7 rc8 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.14:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.14 rc1 | Vulnerable | Linux |
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 4.19.302 to before 4.20; 5.4.264 to before 5.5; 5.10.204 to before 5.11; 5.15.143 to before 5.16; 6.1.68 to before 6.1.141; 6.6.7 to before 6.6.93; 6.7.1 to before 6.12.14; 6.13 to before 6.13.3 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.7:-:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.7 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.7:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.7 rc2 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.7:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.7 rc3 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.7:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.7 rc4 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.7:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.7 rc5 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.7:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.7 rc6 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.7:rc7:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.7 rc7 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.7:rc8:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.7 rc8 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.14:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.14 rc1 Vulnerable ·Linux
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 6.1.141, 6.6.93, 4.20, 5.5, 5.11, 5.16
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 6.1.141, 6.6.93, 6.12.14, 6.13.3, 6.14
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | Affected | No fix planned: Will not fix |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Affected | No fix planned: Will not fix |
Not affected: 3 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2025-21816
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-rp2m-6293-6r8v
References
Patch 5
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/82ac6adbbb2aad14548a71d5e2e37f4964a15e38
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/63815bef47ec25f5a125019ca480882481ee1553
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e456a88bddae4030ba962447bb84be6669f2a0c1
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2aecec58e9040ce3d2694707889f9914a2374955
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/53dac345395c0d2493cbc2f4c85fe38aef5b63f5
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- TI-2013-01864 The perf_swevent_init function in kernel/events/core.c in the Linux kernel before 3.8.9… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
- TI-2021-05514 Heap Out-Of-Bounds Write in Netfilter IP6T_SO_SET_REPLACE KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.3
Sources
- CVE-2025-21816 · CVE Program
- CVE-2025-21816 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-rp2m-6293-6r8v · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2025-21816 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences