CVE-2025-21960 eth: bnxt: do not update checksum in bnxt_xdp_build_skb()

High 7.5 Published 1 Apr 2025 Updated 5 Aug 2026

A logic error in the bnxt network driver causes kernel warnings and potential instability when XDP programs are used with checksum offload.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Not needed
Attackable: Over the internet
Victim action needed: Not needed
Fix: Available

What is CVE-2025-21960?

CVE-2025-21960 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 1 Apr 2025. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

eth: bnxt: do not update checksum in bnxt_xdp_build_skb()

The bnxt_rx_pkt() updates ip_summed value at the end if checksum offload is enabled. When the XDP-MB program is attached and it returns XDP_PASS, the bnxt_xdp_build_skb() is called to update skb_shared_info. The main purpose of bnxt_xdp_build_skb() is to update skb_shared_info, but it updates ip_summed value too if checksum offload is enabled. This is actually duplicate work.

When the bnxt_rx_pkt() updates ip_summed value, it checks if ip_summed is CHECKSUM_NONE or not. It means that ip_summed should be CHECKSUM_NONE at this moment. But ip_summed may already be updated to CHECKSUM_UNNECESSARY in the XDP-MB-PASS path. So the by skb_checksum_none_assert() WARNS about it.

This is duplicate work and updating ip_summed in the bnxt_xdp_build_skb() is not needed.

Splat looks like: WARNING: CPU: 3 PID: 5782 at ./include/linux/skbuff.h:5155 bnxt_rx_pkt+0x479b/0x7610 [bnxt_en] Modules linked in: bnxt_re bnxt_en rdma_ucm rdma_cm iw_cm ib_cm ib_uverbs veth xt_nat xt_tcpudp xt_conntrack nft_chain_nat xt_MASQUERADE nf_] CPU: 3 UID: 0 PID: 5782 Comm: socat Tainted: G W 6.14.0-rc4+ #27 Tainted: [W]=WARN Hardware name: ASUS System Product Name/PRIME Z690-P D4, BIOS 0603 11/01/2021 RIP: 0010:bnxt_rx_pkt+0x479b/0x7610 [bnxt_en] Code: 54 24 0c 4c 89 f1 4c 89 ff c1 ea 1f ff d3 0f 1f 00 49 89 c6 48 85 c0 0f 84 4c e5 ff ff 48 89 c7 e8 ca 3d a0 c8 e9 8f f4 ff ff <0f> 0b f RSP: 0018:ffff88881ba09928 EFLAGS: 00010202 RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: 00000000c7590303 RCX: 0000000000000000 RDX: 1ffff1104e7d1610 RSI: 0000000000000001 RDI: ffff8881c91300b8 RBP: ffff88881ba09b28 R08: ffff888273e8b0d0 R09: ffff888273e8b070 R10: ffff888273e8b010 R11: ffff888278b0f000 R12: ffff888273e8b080 R13: ffff8881c9130e00 R14: ffff8881505d3800 R15: ffff888273e8b000 FS: 00007f5a2e7be080(0000) GS:ffff88881ba00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 00007fff2e708ff8 CR3: 000000013e3b0000 CR4: 00000000007506f0 PKRU: 55555554 Call Trace: <IRQ> ? __warn+0xcd/0x2f0 ? bnxt_rx_pkt+0x479b/0x7610 ? report_bug+0x326/0x3c0 ? handle_bug+0x53/0xa0 ? exc_invalid_op+0x14/0x50 ? asm_exc_invalid_op+0x16/0x20 ? bnxt_rx_pkt+0x479b/0x7610 ? bnxt_rx_pkt+0x3e41/0x7610 ? __pfx_bnxt_rx_pkt+0x10/0x10 ? napi_complete_done+0x2cf/0x7d0 __bnxt_poll_work+0x4e8/0x1220 ? __pfx___bnxt_poll_work+0x10/0x10 ? __pfx_mark_lock.part.0+0x10/0x10 bnxt_poll_p5+0x36a/0xfa0 ? __pfx_bnxt_poll_p5+0x10/0x10 __napi_poll.constprop.0+0xa0/0x440 net_rx_action+0x899/0xd00 ...

Following ping.py patch adds xdp-mb-pass case. so ping.py is going to be able to reproduce this issue.

Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-21960?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2025-21960?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.

Is CVE-2025-21960 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-21960 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as BELL-CVE-2025-21960, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-21960, GHSA-rqhf-vpjr-2pw8, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-21960, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-21960.