{"dataType":"CVE_RECORD","dataVersion":"5.2","cveMetadata":{"cveId":"CVE-2025-21738","assignerOrgId":"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67","state":"PUBLISHED","assignerShortName":"Linux","dateReserved":"2024-12-29T08:45:45.757Z","datePublished":"2025-02-27T02:12:13.942Z","dateUpdated":"2026-08-05T11:54:05.569Z"},"containers":{"cna":{"providerMetadata":{"orgId":"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67","shortName":"Linux","dateUpdated":"2026-08-05T11:54:05.569Z"},"descriptions":[{"lang":"en","value":"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nata: libata-sff: Ensure that we cannot write outside the allocated buffer\n\nreveliofuzzing reported that a SCSI_IOCTL_SEND_COMMAND ioctl with out_len\nset to 0xd42, SCSI command set to ATA_16 PASS-THROUGH, ATA command set to\nATA_NOP, and protocol set to ATA_PROT_PIO, can cause ata_pio_sector() to\nwrite outside the allocated buffer, overwriting random memory.\n\nWhile a ATA device is supposed to abort a ATA_NOP command, there does seem\nto be a bug either in libata-sff or QEMU, where either this status is not\nset, or the status is cleared before read by ata_sff_hsm_move().\nAnyway, that is most likely a separate bug.\n\nLooking at __atapi_pio_bytes(), it already has a safety check to ensure\nthat __atapi_pio_bytes() cannot write outside the allocated buffer.\n\nAdd a similar check to ata_pio_sector(), such that also ata_pio_sector()\ncannot write outside the allocated buffer."}],"metrics":[{"cvssV3_1":{"version":"3.1","vectorString":"CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","baseScore":7.8,"baseSeverity":"HIGH"},"scenarios":[{"lang":"en","value":"AV:L - The vulnerability is triggered through the SCSI_IOCTL_SEND_COMMAND (or SG_IO) ioctl issued on a local ATA block device node, requiring local system access. There is no network-facing path into libata's PIO transfer code.\nAC:L - The attacker deterministically controls both required conditions — the buffer length (any out_len/in_len that is not a multiple of the 512-byte sector size) and the ATA sector count in the pass-through CDB — with no race, no memory-layout dependency, and no reliance on the device's error behaviour when a normal PIO read/write command is used.\nPR:L - The ATA_12 pass-through opcode 0xA1 aliases GPCMD_BLANK in scsi_cmd_allowed(), so it is permitted for any unprivileged user holding a write-opened fd on the block device — no CAP_SYS_RAWIO is needed — which is routinely the case for disk-group members, containers with device passthrough, and embedded/appliance images with permissive device nodes.\nUI:N - The attacker triggers the entire sequence from its own process via a single ioctl; no action by any other user or administrator is required.\nS:U - The out-of-bounds write corrupts kernel memory within the same security authority; there is no crossing of a VM, IOMMU, or hypervisor boundary.\nC:H - In the data-out direction (ATA_CMD_PIO_WRITE with an unaligned in_len) the kernel reads far past the end of the kmalloc'd buffer and streams that kernel memory to attacker-chosen disk sectors, which can then simply be read back — an unbounded kernel-memory disclosure primitive.\nI:H - In the data-in direction the kernel writes up to ~128 KB of device-supplied data (contents of disk sectors the attacker previously wrote, hence fully controlled) past the end of a small slab allocation into adjacent pages, giving a controlled-content heap overflow suitable for control-flow hijacking and privilege escalation.\nA:H - Overwriting arbitrary adjacent kernel pages and slab metadata with attacker data reliably corrupts unrelated kernel structures, producing oopses, slab corruption BUGs, and full system panics."}]}],"affected":[{"product":"Linux","vendor":"Linux","defaultStatus":"unaffected","repo":"https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git","programFiles":["drivers/ata/libata-sff.c"],"versions":[{"version":"5a5dbd18a7496ed403f6f54bb20c955c65482fa5","lessThan":"a8f8cf87059ed1905c2a5c72f8b39a4f57b11b4c","status":"affected","versionType":"git"},{"version":"5a5dbd18a7496ed403f6f54bb20c955c65482fa5","lessThan":"d5e6e3000309359eae2a17117aa6e3c44897bf6c","status":"affected","versionType":"git"},{"version":"5a5dbd18a7496ed403f6f54bb20c955c65482fa5","lessThan":"0dd5aade301a10f4b329fa7454fdcc2518741902","status":"affected","versionType":"git"},{"version":"5a5dbd18a7496ed403f6f54bb20c955c65482fa5","lessThan":"0a17a9944b8d89ef03946121241870ac53ddaf45","status":"affected","versionType":"git"},{"version":"5a5dbd18a7496ed403f6f54bb20c955c65482fa5","lessThan":"6e74e53b34b6dec5a50e1404e2680852ec6768d2","status":"affected","versionType":"git"}]},{"product":"Linux","vendor":"Linux","defaultStatus":"affected","repo":"https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git","programFiles":["drivers/ata/libata-sff.c"],"versions":[{"version":"2.6.22","status":"affected"},{"version":"0","lessThan":"2.6.22","status":"unaffected","versionType":"semver"},{"version":"6.1.129","lessThanOrEqual":"6.1.*","status":"unaffected","versionType":"semver"},{"version":"6.6.78","lessThanOrEqual":"6.6.*","status":"unaffected","versionType":"semver"},{"version":"6.12.14","lessThanOrEqual":"6.12.*","status":"unaffected","versionType":"semver"},{"version":"6.13.3","lessThanOrEqual":"6.13.*","status":"unaffected","versionType":"semver"},{"version":"6.14","lessThanOrEqual":"*","status":"unaffected","versionType":"original_commit_for_fix"}]}],"cpeApplicability":[{"nodes":[{"operator":"OR","negate":false,"cpeMatch":[{"vulnerable":true,"criteria":"cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*","versionStartIncluding":"2.6.22","versionEndExcluding":"6.1.129"},{"vulnerable":true,"criteria":"cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*","versionStartIncluding":"2.6.22","versionEndExcluding":"6.6.78"},{"vulnerable":true,"criteria":"cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*","versionStartIncluding":"2.6.22","versionEndExcluding":"6.12.14"},{"vulnerable":true,"criteria":"cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*","versionStartIncluding":"2.6.22","versionEndExcluding":"6.13.3"},{"vulnerable":true,"criteria":"cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*","versionStartIncluding":"2.6.22","versionEndExcluding":"6.14"}]}]}],"references":[{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a8f8cf87059ed1905c2a5c72f8b39a4f57b11b4c"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d5e6e3000309359eae2a17117aa6e3c44897bf6c"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0dd5aade301a10f4b329fa7454fdcc2518741902"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0a17a9944b8d89ef03946121241870ac53ddaf45"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6e74e53b34b6dec5a50e1404e2680852ec6768d2"}],"title":"ata: libata-sff: Ensure that we cannot write outside the allocated buffer","x_generator":{"engine":"bippy-1.2.0"}},"adp":[{"title":"CVE Program Container","references":[{"url":"https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/03/msg00028.html"}],"providerMetadata":{"orgId":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108","shortName":"CVE","dateUpdated":"2025-11-03T19:36:44.548Z"}}]}}