# CVE-2025-21718: net: rose: fix timer races against user threads

> A race condition in Linux kernel Rose timers causes use-after-free, potentially leading to system crashes or arbitrary code execution.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:** 27 Feb 2025
- **Updated:** 15 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-57988, BELL-CVE-2025-21718, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-21718, GHSA-qh7w-ppc3-hj63, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-21718, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-21718

## What is CVE-2025-21718?

CVE-2025-21718 is a high-severity use after free 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:

net: rose: fix timer races against user threads

Rose timers only acquire the socket spinlock, without
checking if the socket is owned by one user thread.

Add a check and rearm the timers if needed.

BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in rose_timer_expiry+0x31d/0x360 net/rose/rose_timer.c:174
Read of size 2 at addr ffff88802f09b82a by task swapper/0/0

CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 0 Comm: swapper/0 Not tainted 6.13.0-rc5-syzkaller-00172-gd1bf27c4e176 #0
Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 09/13/2024
Call Trace:
 <IRQ>
  __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:94 [inline]
  dump_stack_lvl+0x241/0x360 lib/dump_stack.c:120
  print_address_description mm/kasan/report.c:378 [inline]
  print_report+0x169/0x550 mm/kasan/report.c:489
  kasan_report+0x143/0x180 mm/kasan/report.c:602
  rose_timer_expiry+0x31d/0x360 net/rose/rose_timer.c:174
  call_timer_fn+0x187/0x650 kernel/time/timer.c:1793
  expire_timers kernel/time/timer.c:1844 [inline]
  __run_timers kernel/time/timer.c:2418 [inline]
  __run_timer_base+0x66a/0x8e0 kernel/time/timer.c:2430
  run_timer_base kernel/time/timer.c:2439 [inline]
  run_timer_softirq+0xb7/0x170 kernel/time/timer.c:2449
  handle_softirqs+0x2d4/0x9b0 kernel/softirq.c:561
  __do_softirq kernel/softirq.c:595 [inline]
  invoke_softirq kernel/softirq.c:435 [inline]
  __irq_exit_rcu+0xf7/0x220 kernel/softirq.c:662
  irq_exit_rcu+0x9/0x30 kernel/softirq.c:678
  instr_sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt arch/x86/kernel/apic/apic.c:1049 [inline]
  sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0xa6/0xc0 arch/x86/kernel/apic/apic.c:1049
 </IRQ>

Weakness: CWE-416 (Use After Free), CWE-362 (Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-21718?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-21718?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-21718 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-21718 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-2025-21718 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-21718 is a high-severity use after free 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-21718 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-2025-21718/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-21718/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-21718
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-21718
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-21718

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-21718/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.