# CVE-2025-68353: net: vxlan: prevent NULL deref in vxlan_xmit_one

> A NULL pointer dereference in the Linux kernel VXLAN module allows remote attackers to cause a system crash via crafted network traffic.

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 24 Dec 2025
- **Updated:** 21 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2025-68353, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-68353, GHSA-cff3-j257-7hf4, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2025-68353, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-68353, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-68353

## What is CVE-2025-68353?

CVE-2025-68353 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 24 Dec 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: vxlan: prevent NULL deref in vxlan_xmit_one

Neither sock4 nor sock6 pointers are guaranteed to be non-NULL in
vxlan_xmit_one, e.g. if the iface is brought down. This can lead to the
following NULL dereference:

  BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000010
  Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP NOPTI
  RIP: 0010:vxlan_xmit_one+0xbb3/0x1580
  Call Trace:
   vxlan_xmit+0x429/0x610
   dev_hard_start_xmit+0x55/0xa0
   __dev_queue_xmit+0x6d0/0x7f0
   ip_finish_output2+0x24b/0x590
   ip_output+0x63/0x110

Mentioned commits changed the code path in vxlan_xmit_one and as a side
effect the sock4/6 pointer validity checks in vxlan(6)_get_route were
lost. Fix this by adding back checks.

Since both commits being fixed were released in the same version (v6.7)
and are strongly related, bundle the fixes in a single commit.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-68353?


## How do I fix CVE-2025-68353?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-68353 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-68353 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-68353 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-68353 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 24 Dec 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-2025-68353 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: 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-2025-68353/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-68353/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-68353
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-68353
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-68353

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-68353/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.