# CVE-2025-39703: net, hsr: reject HSR frame if skb can't hold tag > A remote attacker can cause a kernel crash and denial of service by sending malformed HSR frames that trigger a null dereference in the network stack. - **Severity:** Critical 9.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`) - **Exploited in the wild:** Not known - **Login needed:** Not needed - **Attackable:** Over the internet - **Victim action needed:** Not needed - **Fix available:** Yes - **Published:** 5 Sep 2025 - **Updated:** 15 Oct 2026 - **Also known as:** AZL-66923, AZL-73722, BELL-CVE-2025-39703, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-39703, GHSA-fjf6-f8jx-fjgp, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2025-39703, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-39703, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2025-39703, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-39703, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-39703, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-39703 ## What is CVE-2025-39703? CVE-2025-39703 is a critical vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 5 Sep 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: net, hsr: reject HSR frame if skb can't hold tag Receiving HSR frame with insufficient space to hold HSR tag in the skb can result in a crash (kernel BUG): [ 45.390915] skbuff: skb_under_panic: text:ffffffff86f32cac len:26 put:14 head:ffff888042418000 data:ffff888042417ff4 tail:0xe end:0x180 dev:bridge_slave_1 [ 45.392559] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 45.392912] kernel BUG at net/core/skbuff.c:211! [ 45.393276] Oops: invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] SMP DEBUG_PAGEALLOC KASAN NOPTI [ 45.393809] CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 2496 Comm: reproducer Not tainted 6.15.0 #12 PREEMPT(undef) [ 45.394433] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.16.3-0-ga6ed6b701f0a-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 [ 45.395273] RIP: 0010:skb_panic+0x15b/0x1d0 [ 45.402911] Call Trace: [ 45.403105] [ 45.404470] skb_push+0xcd/0xf0 [ 45.404726] br_dev_queue_push_xmit+0x7c/0x6c0 [ 45.406513] br_forward_finish+0x128/0x260 [ 45.408483] __br_forward+0x42d/0x590 [ 45.409464] maybe_deliver+0x2eb/0x420 [ 45.409763] br_flood+0x174/0x4a0 [ 45.410030] br_handle_frame_finish+0xc7c/0x1bc0 [ 45.411618] br_handle_frame+0xac3/0x1230 [ 45.413674] __netif_receive_skb_core.constprop.0+0x808/0x3df0 [ 45.422966] __netif_receive_skb_one_core+0xb4/0x1f0 [ 45.424478] __netif_receive_skb+0x22/0x170 [ 45.424806] process_backlog+0x242/0x6d0 [ 45.425116] __napi_poll+0xbb/0x630 [ 45.425394] net_rx_action+0x4d1/0xcc0 [ 45.427613] handle_softirqs+0x1a4/0x580 [ 45.427926] do_softirq+0x74/0x90 [ 45.428196] This issue was found by syzkaller. The panic happens in br_dev_queue_push_xmit() once it receives a corrupted skb with ETH header already pushed in linear data. When it attempts the skb_push() call, there's not enough headroom and skb_push() panics. The corrupted skb is put on the queue by HSR layer, which makes a sequence of unintended transformations when it receives a specific corrupted HSR frame (with incomplete TAG). Fix it by dropping and consuming frames that are not long enough to contain both ethernet and hsr headers. Alternative fix would be to check for enough headroom before skb_push() in br_dev_queue_push_xmit(). In the reproducer, this is injected via AF_PACKET, but I don't easily see why it couldn't be sent over the wire from adjacent network. Further Details: In the reproducer, the following network interface chain is set up: ┌────────────────┐ ┌────────────────┐ │ veth0_to_hsr ├───┤ hsr_slave0 ┼───┐ └────────────────┘ └────────────────┘ │ │ ┌──────┐ ├─┤ hsr0 ├───┐ │ └──────┘ │ ┌────────────────┐ ┌────────────────┐ │ │┌────────┐ │ veth1_to_hsr ┼───┤ hsr_slave1 ├───┘ └┤ │ └────────────────┘ └────────────────┘ ┌┼ bridge │ ││ │ │└────────┘ │ ┌───────┐ │ │ ... ├──────┘ └───────┘ To trigger the events leading up to crash, reproducer sends a corrupted HSR fr ---truncated--- Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference) ## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-39703? It affects 2 products. Products: Debian Debian Linux, Linux kernel. ## How do I fix CVE-2025-39703? Apply the vendor's patch. ## Is CVE-2025-39703 being exploited? There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-39703 in the wild and no public exploit code. ## Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux - [CVE-2015-3306](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-3306/): ProFTPD Improper Access Control (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild) - [CVE-2025-49113](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-49113/): RoundCube Webmail Deserialization of Untrusted Data (critical 9.9, exploited in the wild) - [CVE-2026-24061](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-24061/): GNU InetUtils Argument Injection (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild) - [CVE-2025-39682](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-39682/): Linux Kernel Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild) - [CVE-2024-9680](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-9680/): Mozilla Firefox Use-After-Free (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild) ## Fix prompt for AI coding agents ```text Check this codebase for CVE-2025-39703 and fix it if it is affected. What it is: CVE-2025-39703 is a critical vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 5 Sep 2025. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim. Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-39703 in the wild and no public exploit code. Affected product: Debian Debian Linux. 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-2025-39703/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-39703/index.md) ``` ## Sources - CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-39703 - NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-39703 - OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-39703 --- From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-39703/ Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.