# CVE-2025-22094: powerpc/perf: Fix ref-counting on the PMU 'vpa\_pmu'

- Severity: CVSS 7.3 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2025-04-16 · Updated: 2026-08-05

## Affected

- Linux: version range not reported
- Linux: 6.13

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: powerpc/perf: Fix ref-counting on the PMU 'vpa_pmu' Commit 176cda0619b6 ("powerpc/perf: Add perf interface to expose vpa counters") introduced 'vpa_pmu' to expose Book3s-HV nested APIv2 provided L1<->L2 context switch latency counters to L1 user-space via perf-events. However the newly introduced PMU named 'vpa_pmu' doesn't assign ownership of the PMU to the module 'vpa_pmu'. Consequently the module 'vpa_pmu' can be unloaded while one of the perf-events are still active, which can lead to kernel oops and panic of the form below on a Pseries-LPAR: BUG: Kernel NULL pointer dereference on read at 0x00000058 <snip> NIP [c000000000506cb8] event_sched_out+0x40/0x258 LR [c00000000050e8a4] __perf_remove_from_context+0x7c/0x2b0 Call Trace: [c00000025fc3fc30] [c00000025f8457a8] 0xc00000025f8457a8 (unreliable) [c00000025fc3fc80] [fffffffffffffee0] 0xfffffffffffffee0 [c00000025fc3fcd0] [c000000000501e70] event_function+0xa8/0x120 <snip> Kernel panic - not syncing: Aiee, killing interrupt handler! Fix this by adding the module ownership to 'vpa_pmu' so that the module 'vpa_pmu' is ref-counted and prevented from being unloaded when perf-events are initialized.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
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  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2025-22094

## Related

- Browse: [Linux kernel](https://cve.now/tech/linux-kernel.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/70ea7c5189197c6f5acdcfd8a2651be2c41e2faa
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6cf045b51e2c5721db7e55305f09ee32741e00f9
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ff99d5b6a246715f2257123cdf6c4a29cb33aa78

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2025-22094
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