get_gate_page in mm/gup.c in the Linux kernel 5.7.x and 5.8.x before 5.8.7 allows privilege escalation because of incorrect reference counting (caused by gate page mishandling) of the struct page that backs the vsyscall page. The result is a refcount underflow. This can be triggered by any 64-bit process that can use ptrace() or process_vm_readv(), aka CID-9fa2dd946743.
CVE-2020-25221
Score 7.8 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: HIGH) published 2022-05-24. NVD baseline CVSS 7.8; sources differ by 0.0.
- High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.
- CVSS v3
- 7.8
- EG Score
- 7.8(medium)
- EG Risk
- —
- EPSS
- 48.1%
- KEV
- Not listed
Published
September 10, 2020
Last Modified
November 21, 2024
References (12)
- cve@mitrehttp://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2020/09/10/4
- cve@mitrehttps://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v5.x/ChangeLog-5.8.7
- cve@mitrehttps://git.kernel.org/linus/8891adc61dce2a8a41fc0c23262b681c3ec4b73a
- cve@mitrehttps://git.kernel.org/linus/9fa2dd946743ae6f30dc4830da19147bf100a7f2
- cve@mitrehttps://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20201001-0003/
- cve@mitrehttps://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2020/09/08/4
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2020/09/10/4
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v5.x/ChangeLog-5.8.7
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://git.kernel.org/linus/8891adc61dce2a8a41fc0c23262b681c3ec4b73a
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://git.kernel.org/linus/9fa2dd946743ae6f30dc4830da19147bf100a7f2
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20201001-0003/
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2020/09/08/4
Weakness Classification(1)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 12× in last 7d / 46× in last 30d)
Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.
- 2026-07-22 22:37 UTCEG score recompute
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- 2026-07-01 12:16 UTCOSV refresh
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- 2026-05-26 23:19 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-05-26 23:19 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-05-26 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-05-24 16:48 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-23 06:31 UTCOSV refresh
Frequently asked(5)
What is CVE-2020-25221?
When was CVE-2020-25221 disclosed?
Is CVE-2020-25221 actively exploited?
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2020-25221?
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Dependency Blast Radius
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