# CVE-2025-21776: USB: hub: Ignore non-compliant devices with too many configs or interfaces

> A malicious USB device with excessive configurations can cause a kernel crash via null pointer dereference in the USB hub driver.

- **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:** 27 Feb 2025
- **Updated:** 15 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-57813, AZL-57890, BELL-CVE-2025-21776, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-21776, GHSA-4r7g-qqxf-m6v8, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-21776, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-21776

## What is CVE-2025-21776?

CVE-2025-21776 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:

USB: hub: Ignore non-compliant devices with too many configs or interfaces

Robert Morris created a test program which can cause
usb_hub_to_struct_hub() to dereference a NULL or inappropriate
pointer:

Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address
0xcccccccccccccccc: 0000 [#1] SMP DEBUG_PAGEALLOC PTI
CPU: 7 UID: 0 PID: 117 Comm: kworker/7:1 Not tainted 6.13.0-rc3-00017-gf44d154d6e3d #14
Hardware name: FreeBSD BHYVE/BHYVE, BIOS 14.0 10/17/2021
Workqueue: usb_hub_wq hub_event
RIP: 0010:usb_hub_adjust_deviceremovable+0x78/0x110
...
Call Trace:
 <TASK>
 ? die_addr+0x31/0x80
 ? exc_general_protection+0x1b4/0x3c0
 ? asm_exc_general_protection+0x26/0x30
 ? usb_hub_adjust_deviceremovable+0x78/0x110
 hub_probe+0x7c7/0xab0
 usb_probe_interface+0x14b/0x350
 really_probe+0xd0/0x2d0
 ? __pfx___device_attach_driver+0x10/0x10
 __driver_probe_device+0x6e/0x110
 driver_probe_device+0x1a/0x90
 __device_attach_driver+0x7e/0xc0
 bus_for_each_drv+0x7f/0xd0
 __device_attach+0xaa/0x1a0
 bus_probe_device+0x8b/0xa0
 device_add+0x62e/0x810
 usb_set_configuration+0x65d/0x990
 usb_generic_driver_probe+0x4b/0x70
 usb_probe_device+0x36/0xd0

The cause of this error is that the device has two interfaces, and the
hub driver binds to interface 1 instead of interface 0, which is where
usb_hub_to_struct_hub() looks.

We can prevent the problem from occurring by refusing to accept hub
devices that violate the USB spec by having more than one
configuration or interface.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-21776?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-21776?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-21776 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-21776 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-2025-21776 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-21776 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-21776 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-2025-21776/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-21776/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-21776
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-21776
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-21776

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-21776/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.