CVE-2025-21678

CVE-2025-21678 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel with a CVSS 3.x base score of 5.5. It is not currently listed as actively exploited by CISA, and its EPSS exploit-prediction score is low.

Key facts

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: gtp: Destroy device along with udp socket's netns dismantle. gtp_newlink() links the device to a list in dev_net(dev) instead of src_net, where a udp tunnel socket is created. Even when src_net is removed, the device stays alive on dev_net(dev). Then, removing src_net triggers the splat below. [0] In this example, gtp0 is created in ns2, and the udp socket is created in ns1. ip netns add ns1 ip netns add ns2 ip -n ns1 link add netns ns2 name gtp0 type gtp role sgsn ip netns del ns1 Let's link the device to the socket's netns instead. Now, gtp_net_exit_batch_rtnl() needs another netdev iteration to remove all gtp devices in the netns. [0]: ref_tracker: net notrefcnt@000000003d6e7d05 has 1/2 users at sk_alloc (./include/net/net_namespace.h:345 net/core/sock.c:2236) inet_create (net/ipv4/af_inet.c:326 net/ipv4/af_inet.c:252) __sock_create (net/socket.c:1558) udp_sock_create4 (net/ipv4/udp_tunnel_core.c:18) gtp_create_sock (./include/net/udp_tunnel.h:59 drivers/net/gtp.c:1423) gtp_create_sockets (drivers/net/gtp.c:1447) gtp_newlink (drivers/net/gtp.c:1507) rtnl_newlink (net/core/rtnetlink.c:3786 net/core/rtnetlink.c:3897 net/core/rtnetlink.c:4012) rtnetlink_rcv_msg (net/core/rtnetlink.c:6922) netlink_rcv_skb (net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2542) netlink_unicast (net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1321 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1347) netlink_sendmsg (net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1891) ____sys_sendmsg (net/socket.c:711 net/socket.c:726 net/socket.c:2583) ___sys_sendmsg (net/socket.c:2639) __sys_sendmsg (net/socket.c:2669) do_syscall_64 (arch/x86/entry/common.c:52 arch/x86/entry/common.c:83) WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 60 at lib/ref_tracker.c:179 ref_tracker_dir_exit (lib/ref_tracker.c:179) Modules linked in: CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 60 Comm: kworker/u16:2 Not tainted 6.13.0-rc5-00147-g4c1224501e9d #5 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.16.0-0-gd239552ce722-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 Workqueue: netns cleanup_net RIP: 0010:ref_tracker_dir_exit (lib/ref_tracker.c:179) Code: 00 00 00 fc ff df 4d 8b 26 49 bd 00 01 00 00 00 00 ad de 4c 39 f5 0f 85 df 00 00 00 48 8b 74 24 08 48 89 df e8 a5 cc 12 02 90 <0f> 0b 90 48 8d 6b 44 be 04 00 00 00 48 89 ef e8 80 de 67 ff 48 89 RSP: 0018:ff11000009a07b60 EFLAGS: 00010286 RAX: 0000000000002bd3 RBX: ff1100000f4e1aa0 RCX: 1ffffffff0e40ac6 RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: ffffffff8423ee3c RBP: ff1100000f4e1af0 R08: 0000000000000001 R09: fffffbfff0e395ae R10: 0000000000000001 R11: 0000000000036001 R12: ff1100000f4e1af0 R13: dead000000000100 R14: ff1100000f4e1af0 R15: dffffc0000000000 FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ff1100006ce80000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 00007f9b2464bd98 CR3: 0000000005286005 CR4: 0000000000771ef0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe07f0 DR7: 0000000000000400 PKRU: 55555554 Call Trace: <TASK> ? __warn (kernel/panic.c:748) ? ref_tracker_dir_exit (lib/ref_tracker.c:179) ? report_bug (lib/bug.c:201 lib/bug.c:219) ? handle_bug (arch/x86/kernel/traps.c:285) ? exc_invalid_op (arch/x86/kernel/traps.c:309 (discriminator 1)) ? asm_exc_invalid_op (./arch/x86/include/asm/idtentry.h:621) ? _raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore (./arch/x86/include/asm/irqflags.h:42 ./arch/x86/include/asm/irqflags.h:97 ./arch/x86/include/asm/irqflags.h:155 ./include/linux/spinlock_api_smp.h:151 kernel/locking/spinlock.c:194) ? ref_tracker_dir_exit (lib/ref_tracker.c:179) ? __pfx_ref_tracker_dir_exit (lib/ref_tracker.c:158) ? kfree (mm/slub.c:4613 mm/slub.c:4761) net_free (net/core/net_namespace.c:476 net/core/net_namespace.c:467) cleanup_net (net/core/net_namespace.c:664 (discriminator 3)) process_one_work (kernel/workqueue.c:3229) worker_thread (kernel/workqueue.c:3304 kernel/workqueue.c:3391 ---truncated---

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2025-21678?
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: gtp: Destroy device along with udp socket's netns dismantle. gtp_newlink() links the device to a list in dev_net(dev) instead of src_net, where a udp tunnel socket is created. Even when src_net is removed, the device stays alive on dev_net(dev). Then, removing src_net triggers the splat below. [0] In this example, gtp0 is created in ns2, and the udp socket is created in ns1. ip netns add ns1 ip netns add ns2 ip -n ns1 link add netns ns2 name gtp0 type gtp role sgsn ip netns del ns1 Let's link the device to the socket's netns instead. Now, gtp_net_exit_batch_rtnl() needs another netdev iteration to remove all gtp devices in the netns. [0]: ref_tracker: net notrefcnt@000000003d6e7d05 has 1/2 users at sk_alloc (./include/net/net_namespace.h:345 net/core/sock.c:2236) inet_create (net/ipv4/af_inet.c:326 net/ipv4/af_inet.c:252) __sock_create (net/socket.c:1558) udp_sock_create4 (net/ipv4/udp_tunnel_core.c:18) gtp_create_sock (./include/net/udp_tunnel.h:59 drivers/net/gtp.c:1423) gtp_create_sockets (drivers/net/gtp.c:1447) gtp_newlink (drivers/net/gtp.c:1507) rtnl_newlink (net/core/rtnetlink.c:3786 net/core/rtnetlink.c:3897 net/core/rtnetlink.c:4012) rtnetlink_rcv_msg (net/core/rtnetlink.c:6922) netlink_rcv_skb (net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2542) netlink_unicast (net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1321 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1347) netlink_sendmsg (net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1891) ____sys_sendmsg (net/socket.c:711 net/socket.c:726 net/socket.c:2583) ___sys_sendmsg (net/socket.c:2639) __sys_sendmsg (net/socket.c:2669) do_syscall_64 (arch/x86/entry/common.c:52 arch/x86/entry/common.c:83) WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 60 at lib/ref_tracker.c:179 ref_tracker_dir_exit (lib/ref_tracker.c:179) Modules linked in: CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 60 Comm: kworker/u16:2 Not tainted 6.13.0-rc5-00147-g4c1224501e9d #5 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.16.0-0-gd239552ce722-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 Workqueue: netns cleanup_net RIP: 0010:ref_tracker_dir_exit (lib/ref_tracker.c:179) Code: 00 00 00 fc ff df 4d 8b 26 49 bd 00 01 00 00 00 00 ad de 4c 39 f5 0f 85 df 00 00 00 48 8b 74 24 08 48 89 df e8 a5 cc 12 02 90 <0f> 0b 90 48 8d 6b 44 be 04 00 00 00 48 89 ef e8 80 de 67 ff 48 89 RSP: 0018:ff11000009a07b60 EFLAGS: 00010286 RAX: 0000000000002bd3 RBX: ff1100000f4e1aa0 RCX: 1ffffffff0e40ac6 RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: ffffffff8423ee3c RBP: ff1100000f4e1af0 R08: 0000000000000001 R09: fffffbfff0e395ae R10: 0000000000000001 R11: 0000000000036001 R12: ff1100000f4e1af0 R13: dead000000000100 R14: ff1100000f4e1af0 R15: dffffc0000000000 FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ff1100006ce80000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 00007f9b2464bd98 CR3: 0000000005286005 CR4: 0000000000771ef0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe07f0 DR7: 0000000000000400 PKRU: 55555554 Call Trace: <TASK> ? __warn (kernel/panic.c:748) ? ref_tracker_dir_exit (lib/ref_tracker.c:179) ? report_bug (lib/bug.c:201 lib/bug.c:219) ? handle_bug (arch/x86/kernel/traps.c:285) ? exc_invalid_op (arch/x86/kernel/traps.c:309 (discriminator 1)) ? asm_exc_invalid_op (./arch/x86/include/asm/idtentry.h:621) ? _raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore (./arch/x86/include/asm/irqflags.h:42 ./arch/x86/include/asm/irqflags.h:97 ./arch/x86/include/asm/irqflags.h:155 ./include/linux/spinlock_api_smp.h:151 kernel/locking/spinlock.c:194) ? ref_tracker_dir_exit (lib/ref_tracker.c:179) ? __pfx_ref_tracker_dir_exit (lib/ref_tracker.c:158) ? kfree (mm/slub.c:4613 mm/slub.c:4761) net_free (net/core/net_namespace.c:476 net/core/net_namespace.c:467) cleanup_net (net/core/net_namespace.c:664 (discriminator 3)) process_one_work (kernel/workqueue.c:3229) worker_thread (kernel/workqueue.c:3304 kernel/workqueue.c:3391 ---truncated---
How severe is CVE-2025-21678?
CVE-2025-21678 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 5.5, rated medium severity. It is exploitable over local access with low attack complexity, requires low privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is none, integrity none, and availability high.
Is CVE-2025-21678 being actively exploited?
It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 0% (11th percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
What products are affected by CVE-2025-21678?
CVE-2025-21678 primarily affects Linux Linux Kernel. In total, 8 product configurations (CPEs) are listed as vulnerable; see the affected-products list for the exact versions.
How do I fix CVE-2025-21678?
Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround.
Does CVE-2025-21678 have an EU (EUVD) identifier?
Yes. CVE-2025-21678 is tracked in the ENISA EU Vulnerability Database (EUVD) as EUVD-2025-2627.
When was CVE-2025-21678 published?
CVE-2025-21678 was published on 2025-01-31 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

References

Affected products (8)

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