# CVE-2025-21675: net/mlx5: Clear port select structure when fail to create

> A null pointer dereference in the mlx5 network driver causes a kernel crash when port selection creation fails, leading to denial of service.

- **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:** 31 Jan 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-56390, BELL-CVE-2025-21675, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-21675, GHSA-wfp2-gq58-rf57, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-21675

## What is CVE-2025-21675?

CVE-2025-21675 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 31 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/mlx5: Clear port select structure when fail to create

Clear the port select structure on error so no stale values left after
definers are destroyed. That's because the mlx5_lag_destroy_definers()
always try to destroy all lag definers in the tt_map, so in the flow
below lag definers get double-destroyed and cause kernel crash:

  mlx5_lag_port_sel_create()
    mlx5_lag_create_definers()
      mlx5_lag_create_definer()     <- Failed on tt 1
        mlx5_lag_destroy_definers() <- definers[tt=0] gets destroyed
  mlx5_lag_port_sel_create()
    mlx5_lag_create_definers()
      mlx5_lag_create_definer()     <- Failed on tt 0
        mlx5_lag_destroy_definers() <- definers[tt=0] gets double-destroyed

 Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 0000000000000008
 Mem abort info:
   ESR = 0x0000000096000005
   EC = 0x25: DABT (current EL), IL = 32 bits
   SET = 0, FnV = 0
   EA = 0, S1PTW = 0
   FSC = 0x05: level 1 translation fault
 Data abort info:
   ISV = 0, ISS = 0x00000005, ISS2 = 0x00000000
   CM = 0, WnR = 0, TnD = 0, TagAccess = 0
   GCS = 0, Overlay = 0, DirtyBit = 0, Xs = 0
 user pgtable: 64k pages, 48-bit VAs, pgdp=0000000112ce2e00
 [0000000000000008] pgd=0000000000000000, p4d=0000000000000000, pud=0000000000000000
 Internal error: Oops: 0000000096000005 [#1] PREEMPT SMP
 Modules linked in: iptable_raw bonding ip_gre ip6_gre gre ip6_tunnel tunnel6 geneve ip6_udp_tunnel udp_tunnel ipip tunnel4 ip_tunnel rdma_ucm(OE) rdma_cm(OE) iw_cm(OE) ib_ipoib(OE) ib_cm(OE) ib_umad(OE) mlx5_ib(OE) ib_uverbs(OE) mlx5_fwctl(OE) fwctl(OE) mlx5_core(OE) mlxdevm(OE) ib_core(OE) mlxfw(OE) memtrack(OE) mlx_compat(OE) openvswitch nsh nf_conncount psample xt_conntrack xt_MASQUERADE nf_conntrack_netlink nfnetlink xfrm_user xfrm_algo xt_addrtype iptable_filter iptable_nat nf_nat nf_conntrack nf_defrag_ipv6 nf_defrag_ipv4 br_netfilter bridge stp llc netconsole overlay efi_pstore sch_fq_codel zram ip_tables crct10dif_ce qemu_fw_cfg fuse ipv6 crc_ccitt [last unloaded: mlx_compat(OE)]
  CPU: 3 UID: 0 PID: 217 Comm: kworker/u53:2 Tainted: G           OE      6.11.0+ #2
  Tainted: [O]=OOT_MODULE, [E]=UNSIGNED_MODULE
  Hardware name: QEMU KVM Virtual Machine, BIOS 0.0.0 02/06/2015
  Workqueue: mlx5_lag mlx5_do_bond_work [mlx5_core]
  pstate: 60400005 (nZCv daif +PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--)
  pc : mlx5_del_flow_rules+0x24/0x2c0 [mlx5_core]
  lr : mlx5_lag_destroy_definer+0x54/0x100 [mlx5_core]
  sp : ffff800085fafb00
  x29: ffff800085fafb00 x28: ffff0000da0c8000 x27: 0000000000000000
  x26: ffff0000da0c8000 x25: ffff0000da0c8000 x24: ffff0000da0c8000
  x23: ffff0000c31f81a0 x22: 0400000000000000 x21: ffff0000da0c8000
  x20: 0000000000000000 x19: 0000000000000001 x18: 0000000000000000
  x17: 0000000000000000 x16: 0000000000000000 x15: 0000ffff8b0c9350
  x14: 0000000000000000 x13: ffff800081390d18 x12: ffff800081dc3cc0
  x11: 0000000000000001 x10: 0000000000000b10 x9 : ffff80007ab7304c
  x8 : ffff0000d00711f0 x7 : 0000000000000004 x6 : 0000000000000190
  x5 : ffff00027edb3010 x4 : 0000000000000000 x3 : 0000000000000000
  x2 : ffff0000d39b8000 x1 : ffff0000d39b8000 x0 : 0400000000000000
  Call trace:
   mlx5_del_flow_rules+0x24/0x2c0 [mlx5_core]
   mlx5_lag_destroy_definer+0x54/0x100 [mlx5_core]
   mlx5_lag_destroy_definers+0xa0/0x108 [mlx5_core]
   mlx5_lag_port_sel_create+0x2d4/0x6f8 [mlx5_core]
   mlx5_activate_lag+0x60c/0x6f8 [mlx5_core]
   mlx5_do_bond_work+0x284/0x5c8 [mlx5_core]
   process_one_work+0x170/0x3e0
   worker_thread+0x2d8/0x3e0
   kthread+0x11c/0x128
   ret_from_fork+0x10/0x20
  Code: a9025bf5 aa0003f6 a90363f7 f90023f9 (f9400400)
  ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-21675?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-21675?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-21675 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-21675 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-2025-21675 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-21675 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 31 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-2025-21675 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-2025-21675/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-21675/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-21675
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-21675
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-21675

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-21675/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.