# CVE-2025-21649: net: hns3: fix kernel crash when 1588 is sent on HIP08 devices

> A null pointer dereference in the hns3 network driver causes a kernel crash when sending 1588 packets on HIP08 devices.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 19 Jan 2025
- **Updated:** 14 Sep 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-56133, AZL-56154, BELL-CVE-2025-21649, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-21649, GHSA-67xw-5wfx-qcmc, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-21649, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-21649, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-21649

## What is CVE-2025-21649?

CVE-2025-21649 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 19 Jan 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net: hns3: fix kernel crash when 1588 is sent on HIP08 devices

Currently, HIP08 devices does not register the ptp devices, so the
hdev->ptp is NULL. But the tx process would still try to set hardware time
stamp info with SKBTX_HW_TSTAMP flag and cause a kernel crash.

[  128.087798] Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 0000000000000018
...
[  128.280251] pc : hclge_ptp_set_tx_info+0x2c/0x140 [hclge]
[  128.286600] lr : hclge_ptp_set_tx_info+0x20/0x140 [hclge]
[  128.292938] sp : ffff800059b93140
[  128.297200] x29: ffff800059b93140 x28: 0000000000003280
[  128.303455] x27: ffff800020d48280 x26: ffff0cb9dc814080
[  128.309715] x25: ffff0cb9cde93fa0 x24: 0000000000000001
[  128.315969] x23: 0000000000000000 x22: 0000000000000194
[  128.322219] x21: ffff0cd94f986000 x20: 0000000000000000
[  128.328462] x19: ffff0cb9d2a166c0 x18: 0000000000000000
[  128.334698] x17: 0000000000000000 x16: ffffcf1fc523ed24
[  128.340934] x15: 0000ffffd530a518 x14: 0000000000000000
[  128.347162] x13: ffff0cd6bdb31310 x12: 0000000000000368
[  128.353388] x11: ffff0cb9cfbc7070 x10: ffff2cf55dd11e02
[  128.359606] x9 : ffffcf1f85a212b4 x8 : ffff0cd7cf27dab0
[  128.365831] x7 : 0000000000000a20 x6 : ffff0cd7cf27d000
[  128.372040] x5 : 0000000000000000 x4 : 000000000000ffff
[  128.378243] x3 : 0000000000000400 x2 : ffffcf1f85a21294
[  128.384437] x1 : ffff0cb9db520080 x0 : ffff0cb9db500080
[  128.390626] Call trace:
[  128.393964]  hclge_ptp_set_tx_info+0x2c/0x140 [hclge]
[  128.399893]  hns3_nic_net_xmit+0x39c/0x4c4 [hns3]
[  128.405468]  xmit_one.constprop.0+0xc4/0x200
[  128.410600]  dev_hard_start_xmit+0x54/0xf0
[  128.415556]  sch_direct_xmit+0xe8/0x634
[  128.420246]  __dev_queue_xmit+0x224/0xc70
[  128.425101]  dev_queue_xmit+0x1c/0x40
[  128.429608]  ovs_vport_send+0xac/0x1a0 [openvswitch]
[  128.435409]  do_output+0x60/0x17c [openvswitch]
[  128.440770]  do_execute_actions+0x898/0x8c4 [openvswitch]
[  128.446993]  ovs_execute_actions+0x64/0xf0 [openvswitch]
[  128.453129]  ovs_dp_process_packet+0xa0/0x224 [openvswitch]
[  128.459530]  ovs_vport_receive+0x7c/0xfc [openvswitch]
[  128.465497]  internal_dev_xmit+0x34/0xb0 [openvswitch]
[  128.471460]  xmit_one.constprop.0+0xc4/0x200
[  128.476561]  dev_hard_start_xmit+0x54/0xf0
[  128.481489]  __dev_queue_xmit+0x968/0xc70
[  128.486330]  dev_queue_xmit+0x1c/0x40
[  128.490856]  ip_finish_output2+0x250/0x570
[  128.495810]  __ip_finish_output+0x170/0x1e0
[  128.500832]  ip_finish_output+0x3c/0xf0
[  128.505504]  ip_output+0xbc/0x160
[  128.509654]  ip_send_skb+0x58/0xd4
[  128.513892]  udp_send_skb+0x12c/0x354
[  128.518387]  udp_sendmsg+0x7a8/0x9c0
[  128.522793]  inet_sendmsg+0x4c/0x8c
[  128.527116]  __sock_sendmsg+0x48/0x80
[  128.531609]  __sys_sendto+0x124/0x164
[  128.536099]  __arm64_sys_sendto+0x30/0x5c
[  128.540935]  invoke_syscall+0x50/0x130
[  128.545508]  el0_svc_common.constprop.0+0x10c/0x124
[  128.551205]  do_el0_svc+0x34/0xdc
[  128.555347]  el0_svc+0x20/0x30
[  128.559227]  el0_sync_handler+0xb8/0xc0
[  128.563883]  el0_sync+0x160/0x180

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-21649?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-21649?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-21649 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-21649 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-21649 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-21649 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 19 Jan 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-21649 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-21649/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-21649/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-21649
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-21649
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-21649

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-21649/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.
