# CVE-2025-22103: net: fix NULL pointer dereference in l3mdev_l3_rcv

> A race condition in the Linux kernel's L3MDEV handling causes a NULL pointer dereference, leading to a system crash when deleting L3S IPvLAN interfaces.

- **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:** 16 Apr 2025
- **Updated:** 14 Sep 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-62501, AZL-69647, BELL-CVE-2025-22103, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-22103, GHSA-3w79-f82r-vfcx, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2025-22103, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-22103, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2025-22103, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-22103, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-22103, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-22103

## What is CVE-2025-22103?

CVE-2025-22103 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 16 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:

net: fix NULL pointer dereference in l3mdev_l3_rcv

When delete l3s ipvlan:

    ip link del link eth0 ipvlan1 type ipvlan mode l3s

This may cause a null pointer dereference:

    Call trace:
     ip_rcv_finish+0x48/0xd0
     ip_rcv+0x5c/0x100
     __netif_receive_skb_one_core+0x64/0xb0
     __netif_receive_skb+0x20/0x80
     process_backlog+0xb4/0x204
     napi_poll+0xe8/0x294
     net_rx_action+0xd8/0x22c
     __do_softirq+0x12c/0x354

This is because l3mdev_l3_rcv() visit dev->l3mdev_ops after
ipvlan_l3s_unregister() assign the dev->l3mdev_ops to NULL. The process
like this:

    (CPU1)                     | (CPU2)
    l3mdev_l3_rcv()            |
      check dev->priv_flags:   |
        master = skb->dev;     |
                               |
                               | ipvlan_l3s_unregister()
                               |   set dev->priv_flags
                               |   dev->l3mdev_ops = NULL;
                               |
      visit master->l3mdev_ops |

To avoid this by do not set dev->l3mdev_ops when unregister l3s ipvlan.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-22103?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-22103?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-22103 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-22103 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-2025-22103 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-22103 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 16 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-2025-22103 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-2025-22103/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-22103/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-22103
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-22103
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-22103

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-22103/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.