CVE-2025-21991

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

x86/microcode/AMD: Fix out-of-bounds on systems with CPU-less NUMA nodes

Currently, load_microcode_amd() iterates over all NUMA nodes, retrieves their
CPU masks and unconditionally accesses per-CPU data for the first CPU of each
mask.

According to Documentation/admin-guide/mm/numaperf.rst:

  "Some memory may share the same node as a CPU, and others are provided as
  memory only nodes."

Therefore, some node CPU masks may be empty and wouldn't have a "first CPU".

On a machine with far memory (and therefore CPU-less NUMA nodes):
- cpumask_of_node(nid) is 0
- cpumask_first(0) is CONFIG_NR_CPUS
- cpu_data(CONFIG_NR_CPUS) accesses the cpu_info per-CPU array at an
  index that is 1 out of bounds

This does not have any security implications since flashing microcode is
a privileged operation but I believe this has reliability implications by
potentially corrupting memory while flashing a microcode update.

When booting with CONFIG_UBSAN_BOUNDS=y on an AMD machine that flashes
a microcode update. I get the following splat:

  UBSAN: array-index-out-of-bounds in arch/x86/kernel/cpu/microcode/amd.c:X:Y
  index 512 is out of range for type 'unsigned long[512]'
  [...]
  Call Trace:
   dump_stack
   __ubsan_handle_out_of_bounds
   load_microcode_amd
   request_microcode_amd
   reload_store
   kernfs_fop_write_iter
   vfs_write
   ksys_write
   do_syscall_64
   entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe

Change the loop to go over only NUMA nodes which have CPUs before determining
whether the first CPU on the respective node needs microcode update.

  [ bp: Massage commit message, fix typo. ]
ProviderTypeBase ScoreAtk. VectorAtk. ComplexityPriv. RequiredVector
NISTNIST
7.8 HIGH
LOCAL
LOW
LOW
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
LinuxCNA
---
---
Base Score
CVSS 3.x
EPSS Score
Percentile: 3%
VendorProductVersion
linuxlinux_kernel
4.14.308 ≤
𝑥
< 4.15
linuxlinux_kernel
4.19.276 ≤
𝑥
< 4.20
linuxlinux_kernel
5.4.235 ≤
𝑥
< 5.5
linuxlinux_kernel
5.10.173 ≤
𝑥
< 5.11
linuxlinux_kernel
5.15.99 ≤
𝑥
< 5.16
linuxlinux_kernel
6.1.16 ≤
𝑥
< 6.1.132
linuxlinux_kernel
6.2.3 ≤
𝑥
< 6.6.84
linuxlinux_kernel
6.7 ≤
𝑥
< 6.12.20
linuxlinux_kernel
6.13 ≤
𝑥
< 6.13.8
linuxlinux_kernel
6.14:rc1
linuxlinux_kernel
6.14:rc2
linuxlinux_kernel
6.14:rc3
linuxlinux_kernel
6.14:rc4
linuxlinux_kernel
6.14:rc5
linuxlinux_kernel
6.14:rc6
𝑥
= Vulnerable software versions
Debian logo
Debian Releases
Debian Product
Codename
linux
bullseye
vulnerable
bullseye (security)
5.10.237-1
fixed
bookworm
6.1.137-1
fixed
bookworm (security)
6.1.140-1
fixed
trixie
6.12.27-1
fixed
sid
6.12.30-1
fixed
linux-6.1
bullseye (security)
6.1.137-1~deb11u1
fixed