CVE-2025-21878
5.5 · MEDIUMOverview
CVE-2025-21878 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting linux linux_kernel. It was published on March 27, 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:
i2c: npcm: disable interrupt enable bit before devm_request_irq
The customer reports that there is a soft lockup issue related to
the i2c driver. After checking, the i2c module was doing a tx transfer
and the bmc machine reboots in the middle of the i2c transaction, the i2c
module keeps the status without being reset.
Due to such an i2c module status, the i2c irq handler keeps getting
triggered since the i2c irq handler is registered in the kernel booting
process after the bmc machine is doing a warm rebooting.
The continuous triggering is stopped by the soft lockup watchdog timer.
Disable the interrupt enable bit in the i2c module before calling
devm_request_irq to fix this issue since the i2c relative status bit
is read-only.
Here is the soft lockup log.
[ 28.176395] watchdog: BUG: soft lockup - CPU#0 stuck for 26s! [swapper/0:1]
[ 28.183351] Modules linked in:
[ 28.186407] CPU: 0 PID: 1 Comm: swapper/0 No
Remediation
Check the references section for vendor advisories and patches from linux. Update linux_kernel to the latest patched version. 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.
Affected Products
| Vendor | Product | Versions | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux | linux_kernel | >= 5.8, < 5.10.235 | Affected |
References
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CVE-2025-21878?
CVE-2025-21878 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting linux linux_kernel. It was published on March 27, 2025 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.5 (MEDIUM).
How severe is CVE-2025-21878?
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-2025-21878?
Check the references section for vendor advisories and patches from linux. Update linux_kernel to the latest patched version. 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-2025-21878?
CyberStrike's AI-powered security agents can automatically detect CVE-2025-21878 across your infrastructure using autonomous pentesting, DAST scanning, and HackBrowser. The platform continuously monitors for known vulnerabilities and provides actionable remediation guidance prioritized by real-world exploitability.
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