# CVE-2025-21920: vlan: enforce underlying device type

> A Linux kernel vulnerability allows local attackers to leak kernel function addresses by creating VLAN devices on non-ethernet interfaces, aiding privilege escalation exploits.

- **Severity:** High 7.1 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/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:** 1 Apr 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-59943, AZL-59976, BELL-CVE-2025-21920, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-21920, GHSA-p79h-jcrm-6qrc, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-21920, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-21920

## What is CVE-2025-21920?

CVE-2025-21920 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 1 Apr 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:

vlan: enforce underlying device type

Currently, VLAN devices can be created on top of non-ethernet devices.

Besides the fact that it doesn't make much sense, this also causes a
bug which leaks the address of a kernel function to usermode.

When creating a VLAN device, we initialize GARP (garp_init_applicant)
and MRP (mrp_init_applicant) for the underlying device.

As part of the initialization process, we add the multicast address of
each applicant to the underlying device, by calling dev_mc_add.

__dev_mc_add uses dev->addr_len to determine the length of the new
multicast address.

This causes an out-of-bounds read if dev->addr_len is greater than 6,
since the multicast addresses provided by GARP and MRP are only 6
bytes long.

This behaviour can be reproduced using the following commands:

ip tunnel add gretest mode ip6gre local ::1 remote ::2 dev lo
ip l set up dev gretest
ip link add link gretest name vlantest type vlan id 100

Then, the following command will display the address of garp_pdu_rcv:

ip maddr show | grep 01:80:c2:00:00:21

Fix the bug by enforcing the type of the underlying device during VLAN
device initialization.

Weakness: CWE-125 (Out-of-bounds Read)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-21920?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-21920?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-21920 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-21920 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-2025-21920 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-21920 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 1 Apr 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-2025-21920 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-2025-21920/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-21920/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-21920
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-21920
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-21920

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-21920/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.