Vulnerability in Linux kernel (CVE-2025-21970)
Summary
Vulnerability in Linux kernel (CVE-2025-21970). Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover.
Original description
The description as published by the source.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
net/mlx5: Bridge, fix the crash caused by LAG state check
When removing LAG device from bridge, NETDEV_CHANGEUPPER event is
triggered. Driver finds the lower devices (PFs) to flush all the
offloaded entries. And mlx5_lag_is_shared_fdb is checked, it returns
false if one of PF is unloaded. In such case,
mlx5_esw_bridge_lag_rep_get() and its caller return NULL, instead of
the alive PF, and the flush is skipped.
Besides, the bridge fdb entry's lastuse is updated in mlx5 bridge
event handler. But this SWITCHDEV_FDB_ADD_TO_BRIDGE event can be
ignored in this case because the upper interface for bond is deleted,
and the entry will never be aged because lastuse is never updated.
To make things worse, as the entry is alive, mlx5 bridge workqueue
keeps sending that event, which is then handled by kernel bridge
notifier. It causes the following crash when accessing the passed bond
netdev which is already destroyed.
To fix this issue, remove such checks. LAG state is already checked in
commit 15f8f168952f ("net/mlx5: Bridge, verify LAG state when adding
bond to bridge"), driver still need to skip offload if LAG becomes
invalid state after initialization.
Oops: stack segment: 0000 [#1] SMP
CPU: 3 UID: 0 PID: 23695 Comm: kworker/u40:3 Tainted: G OE 6.11.0_mlnx #1
Tainted: [O]=OOT_MODULE, [E]=UNSIGNED_MODULE
Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS rel-1.13.0-0-gf21b5a4aeb02-prebuil…
Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database NVD
Auto-generated summary
Assembled by SecPulse from the source data (CVSS, CWE, affected versions) using templates — no AI involved. Check the original description and references below for exact details.
A vulnerability tracked as CVE-2025-21970 has been found in Linux kernel.
Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover. CVSS score: 7.8/10.
What to do: apply the vendor's official patched release.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "Linux kernel CVE-2025-21970" on the vendor's site.
CVE-2025-21970 (Linux kernel) — CWE-476 / CVSS v3 7.8
Attack vector: local / no user interaction
Plan: 1) Audit SBOM/dependencies, 2) Stage→prod upgrade, 3) Add WAF/proxy monitoring on affected endpoints, 4) Hunt IOCs in logs.
Refs: see the GHSA / vendor advisory / patched release linked on this page.
A vulnerability (CWE-476) exists in Linux kernel.
Check the vendor advisory for the affected versions of Linux kernel.
Severity: High (CVSS 7.8/10). Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover.
Update to the patched release per vendor advisory.
Until the patch is applied: disable the affected feature, apply WAF rules, or restrict access via network ACLs.
Search webserver/proxy logs for unusual request patterns matching this CVE's known IOCs. Audit SBOM/dependencies to find affected services.
Response actions
Concrete steps and command examples for SOC/SRE teams to execute in order
-
1Identify exposure identify
Audit SBOM/dependencies for affected components.資産台帳・SBOM・依存マニフェストで Linux kernel を使っているサービスとバージョンを洗い出す。
-
2Post-deployment verification verify
Confirm patched version is live in productionパッチ適用後、ステージングで PoC または同等の悪用パターンを再現して脆弱性が閉じたことを確認。本番ではアクセスログ・WAF でアラート再発が無いか継続監視。
Affected packages
Fix status by distribution
Fixed packages published by each distribution for this CVE
- BellSoft Alpaquita BELL-CVE-2025-21970 linux-lts Fixed in: 6.1.134-r0
- Debian DEBIAN-CVE-2025-21970 linux Fixed in: 6.1.133-1
- Ubuntu UBUNTU-CVE-2025-21970 linux-hwe-edge
References
- advisory github.com
- advisory nvd.nist.gov
- package git.kernel.org
- web git.kernel.org
- web git.kernel.org
- web git.kernel.org
- web git.kernel.org
- web git.kernel.org
- web git.kernel.org
- web lists.debian.org