CVE-2025-21716 vxlan: Fix uninit-value in vxlan_vnifilter_dump()
A local attacker can trigger an uninitialized memory read in the Linux kernel VXLAN driver, potentially disclosing sensitive kernel memory contents.
- 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
What is CVE-2025-21716?
CVE-2025-21716 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 Feb 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:
vxlan: Fix uninit-value in vxlan_vnifilter_dump()
KMSAN reported an uninit-value access in vxlan_vnifilter_dump() [1].
If the length of the netlink message payload is less than sizeof(struct tunnel_msg), vxlan_vnifilter_dump() accesses bytes beyond the message. This can lead to uninit-value access. Fix this by returning an error in such situations.
[1] BUG: KMSAN: uninit-value in vxlan_vnifilter_dump+0x328/0x920 drivers/net/vxlan/vxlan_vnifilter.c:422 vxlan_vnifilter_dump+0x328/0x920 drivers/net/vxlan/vxlan_vnifilter.c:422 rtnl_dumpit+0xd5/0x2f0 net/core/rtnetlink.c:6786 netlink_dump+0x93e/0x15f0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2317 __netlink_dump_start+0x716/0xd60 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2432 netlink_dump_start include/linux/netlink.h:340 [inline] rtnetlink_dump_start net/core/rtnetlink.c:6815 [inline] rtnetlink_rcv_msg+0x1256/0x14a0 net/core/rtnetlink.c:6882 netlink_rcv_skb+0x467/0x660 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2542 rtnetlink_rcv+0x35/0x40 net/core/rtnetlink.c:6944 netlink_unicast_kernel net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1321 [inline] netlink_unicast+0xed6/0x1290 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1347 netlink_sendmsg+0x1092/0x1230 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1891 sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:711 [inline] __sock_sendmsg+0x330/0x3d0 net/socket.c:726 ____sys_sendmsg+0x7f4/0xb50 net/socket.c:2583 ___sys_sendmsg+0x271/0x3b0 net/socket.c:2637 __sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2669 [inline] __do_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2674 [inline] __se_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2672 [inline] __x64_sys_sendmsg+0x211/0x3e0 net/socket.c:2672 x64_sys_call+0x3878/0x3d90 arch/x86/include/generated/asm/syscalls_64.h:47 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:52 [inline] do_syscall_64+0xd9/0x1d0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:83 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f
Uninit was created at: slab_post_alloc_hook mm/slub.c:4110 [inline] slab_alloc_node mm/slub.c:4153 [inline] kmem_cache_alloc_node_noprof+0x800/0xe80 mm/slub.c:4205 kmalloc_reserve+0x13b/0x4b0 net/core/skbuff.c:587 __alloc_skb+0x347/0x7d0 net/core/skbuff.c:678 alloc_skb include/linux/skbuff.h:1323 [inline] netlink_alloc_large_skb+0xa5/0x280 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1196 netlink_sendmsg+0xac9/0x1230 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1866 sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:711 [inline] __sock_sendmsg+0x330/0x3d0 net/socket.c:726 ____sys_sendmsg+0x7f4/0xb50 net/socket.c:2583 ___sys_sendmsg+0x271/0x3b0 net/socket.c:2637 __sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2669 [inline] __do_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2674 [inline] __se_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2672 [inline] __x64_sys_sendmsg+0x211/0x3e0 net/socket.c:2672 x64_sys_call+0x3878/0x3d90 arch/x86/include/generated/asm/syscalls_64.h:47 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:52 [inline] do_syscall_64+0xd9/0x1d0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:83 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f
CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 30991 Comm: syz.4.10630 Not tainted 6.12.0-10694-gc44daa7e3c73 #29 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.16.3-3.fc41 04/01/2014
Weakness: CWE-908
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-21716?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2025-21716?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2025-21716 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-21716 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2025-21716, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-21716, GHSA-89mr-qgjp-42xf, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-21716, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-21716.