# CVE-2025-21707: mptcp: consolidate suboption status > A use of uninitialized memory in the Linux kernel MPTCP subsystem can lead to a kernel crash, requiring a patch to fix. - **Severity:** Critical 9.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`) - **Exploited in the wild:** Not known - **Login needed:** Not needed - **Attackable:** Over the internet - **Victim action needed:** Not needed - **Fix available:** Yes - **Published:** 27 Feb 2025 - **Updated:** 15 Oct 2026 - **Also known as:** AZL-57978, BELL-CVE-2025-21707, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-21707, GHSA-mcqw-w66r-84mp, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-21707, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-21707 ## What is CVE-2025-21707? CVE-2025-21707 is a critical memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 Feb 2025. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim. ### Official description In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mptcp: consolidate suboption status MPTCP maintains the received sub-options status is the bitmask carrying the received suboptions and in several bitfields carrying per suboption additional info. Zeroing the bitmask before parsing is not enough to ensure a consistent status, and the MPTCP code has to additionally clear some bitfiled depending on the actually parsed suboption. The above schema is fragile, and syzbot managed to trigger a path where a relevant bitfield is not cleared/initialized: BUG: KMSAN: uninit-value in __mptcp_expand_seq net/mptcp/options.c:1030 [inline] BUG: KMSAN: uninit-value in mptcp_expand_seq net/mptcp/protocol.h:864 [inline] BUG: KMSAN: uninit-value in ack_update_msk net/mptcp/options.c:1060 [inline] BUG: KMSAN: uninit-value in mptcp_incoming_options+0x2036/0x3d30 net/mptcp/options.c:1209 __mptcp_expand_seq net/mptcp/options.c:1030 [inline] mptcp_expand_seq net/mptcp/protocol.h:864 [inline] ack_update_msk net/mptcp/options.c:1060 [inline] mptcp_incoming_options+0x2036/0x3d30 net/mptcp/options.c:1209 tcp_data_queue+0xb4/0x7be0 net/ipv4/tcp_input.c:5233 tcp_rcv_established+0x1061/0x2510 net/ipv4/tcp_input.c:6264 tcp_v4_do_rcv+0x7f3/0x11a0 net/ipv4/tcp_ipv4.c:1916 tcp_v4_rcv+0x51df/0x5750 net/ipv4/tcp_ipv4.c:2351 ip_protocol_deliver_rcu+0x2a3/0x13d0 net/ipv4/ip_input.c:205 ip_local_deliver_finish+0x336/0x500 net/ipv4/ip_input.c:233 NF_HOOK include/linux/netfilter.h:314 [inline] ip_local_deliver+0x21f/0x490 net/ipv4/ip_input.c:254 dst_input include/net/dst.h:460 [inline] ip_rcv_finish+0x4a2/0x520 net/ipv4/ip_input.c:447 NF_HOOK include/linux/netfilter.h:314 [inline] ip_rcv+0xcd/0x380 net/ipv4/ip_input.c:567 __netif_receive_skb_one_core net/core/dev.c:5704 [inline] __netif_receive_skb+0x319/0xa00 net/core/dev.c:5817 process_backlog+0x4ad/0xa50 net/core/dev.c:6149 __napi_poll+0xe7/0x980 net/core/dev.c:6902 napi_poll net/core/dev.c:6971 [inline] net_rx_action+0xa5a/0x19b0 net/core/dev.c:7093 handle_softirqs+0x1a0/0x7c0 kernel/softirq.c:561 __do_softirq+0x14/0x1a kernel/softirq.c:595 do_softirq+0x9a/0x100 kernel/softirq.c:462 __local_bh_enable_ip+0x9f/0xb0 kernel/softirq.c:389 local_bh_enable include/linux/bottom_half.h:33 [inline] rcu_read_unlock_bh include/linux/rcupdate.h:919 [inline] __dev_queue_xmit+0x2758/0x57d0 net/core/dev.c:4493 dev_queue_xmit include/linux/netdevice.h:3168 [inline] neigh_hh_output include/net/neighbour.h:523 [inline] neigh_output include/net/neighbour.h:537 [inline] ip_finish_output2+0x187c/0x1b70 net/ipv4/ip_output.c:236 __ip_finish_output+0x287/0x810 ip_finish_output+0x4b/0x600 net/ipv4/ip_output.c:324 NF_HOOK_COND include/linux/netfilter.h:303 [inline] ip_output+0x15f/0x3f0 net/ipv4/ip_output.c:434 dst_output include/net/dst.h:450 [inline] ip_local_out net/ipv4/ip_output.c:130 [inline] __ip_queue_xmit+0x1f2a/0x20d0 net/ipv4/ip_output.c:536 ip_queue_xmit+0x60/0x80 net/ipv4/ip_output.c:550 __tcp_transmit_skb+0x3cea/0x4900 net/ipv4/tcp_output.c:1468 tcp_transmit_skb net/ipv4/tcp_output.c:1486 [inline] tcp_write_xmit+0x3b90/0x9070 net/ipv4/tcp_output.c:2829 __tcp_push_pending_frames+0xc4/0x380 net/ipv4/tcp_output.c:3012 tcp_send_fin+0x9f6/0xf50 net/ipv4/tcp_output.c:3618 __tcp_close+0x140c/0x1550 net/ipv4/tcp.c:3130 __mptcp_close_ssk+0x74e/0x16f0 net/mptcp/protocol.c:2496 mptcp_close_ssk+0x26b/0x2c0 net/mptcp/protocol.c:2550 mptcp_pm_nl_rm_addr_or_subflow+0x635/0xd10 net/mptcp/pm_netlink.c:889 mptcp_pm_nl_rm_subflow_received net/mptcp/pm_netlink.c:924 [inline] mptcp_pm_flush_addrs_and_subflows net/mptcp/pm_netlink.c:1688 [inline] mptcp_nl_flush_addrs_list net/mptcp/pm_netlink.c:1709 [inline] mptcp_pm_nl_flush_addrs_doit+0xe10/0x1630 net/mptcp/pm_netlink.c:1750 genl_family_rcv_msg_doit net/netlink/genetlink.c:1115 [inline] ---truncated--- Weakness: CWE-908 (Use of Uninitialized Resource) ## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-21707? It affects 1 product. Products: Linux kernel. ## How do I fix CVE-2025-21707? Apply the vendor's patch. ## Is CVE-2025-21707 being exploited? There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-21707 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-2025-21707 and fix it if it is affected. What it is: CVE-2025-21707 is a critical memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 Feb 2025. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim. Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-21707 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-2025-21707/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-21707/index.md) ``` ## Sources - CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-21707 - NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-21707 - OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-21707 --- From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-21707/ Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.