CVE-2025-21923: linux Use After Free

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2025-21923 is a high (CVSS 7.8) Use After Free vulnerability in linux. EPSS estimates a 0.21% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 9.9% of scored vulnerabilities.

Timeline

1. 01-04-2025
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 05-08-2026
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: HID: hid-steam: Fix use-after-free when detaching device When a hid-steam device is removed it must clean up the client_hdev used for intercepting hidraw access. This can lead to scheduling deferred work to reattach the input device. Though the cleanup cancels the deferred work, this was done before the client_hdev itself is cleaned up, so it gets rescheduled. This patch fixes the ordering to make sure the deferred work is properly canceled.

• CWE-416Use After FreeThe product reuses or references memory after it has been freed. At some point afterward, the memory may be allocated again and saved in another pointer, while the original pointer references a location somewhere within the new allocation. Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory "belongs" to the code that operates on the new pointer.