# CVE-2025-21823: batman-adv: Drop unmanaged ELP metric worker

> A use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel's batman-adv module allows attackers to cause memory corruption, potentially leading to code execution or system crashes.

- **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:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2025-21823, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-21823, GHSA-cq4r-9fv8-53r2, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-21823, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-21823

## What is CVE-2025-21823?

CVE-2025-21823 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:

batman-adv: Drop unmanaged ELP metric worker

The ELP worker needs to calculate new metric values for all neighbors
"reachable" over an interface. Some of the used metric sources require
locks which might need to sleep. This sleep is incompatible with the RCU
list iterator used for the recorded neighbors. The initial approach to work
around of this problem was to queue another work item per neighbor and then
run this in a new context.

Even when this solved the RCU vs might_sleep() conflict, it has a major
problems: Nothing was stopping the work item in case it is not needed
anymore - for example because one of the related interfaces was removed or
the batman-adv module was unloaded - resulting in potential invalid memory
accesses.

Directly canceling the metric worker also has various problems:

* cancel_work_sync for a to-be-deactivated interface is called with
  rtnl_lock held. But the code in the ELP metric worker also tries to use
  rtnl_lock() - which will never return in this case. This also means that
  cancel_work_sync would never return because it is waiting for the worker
  to finish.
* iterating over the neighbor list for the to-be-deactivated interface is
  currently done using the RCU specific methods. Which means that it is
  possible to miss items when iterating over it without the associated
  spinlock - a behaviour which is acceptable for a periodic metric check
  but not for a cleanup routine (which must "stop" all still running
  workers)

The better approch is to get rid of the per interface neighbor metric
worker and handle everything in the interface worker. The original problems
are solved by:

* creating a list of neighbors which require new metric information inside
  the RCU protected context, gathering the metric according to the new list
  outside the RCU protected context
* only use rcu_trylock inside metric gathering code to avoid a deadlock
  when the cancel_delayed_work_sync is called in the interface removal code
  (which is called with the rtnl_lock held)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-21823?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-21823?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-21823 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-21823 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-2025-21823 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-21823 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-2025-21823 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-2025-21823/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-21823/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-21823
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-21823
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-21823

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-21823/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.