# CVE-2025-68801: mlxsw: spectrum_router: Fix neighbour use-after-free

> A use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel mlxsw driver allows attackers to cause a denial of service or potentially execute code via crafted network events.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:** 13 Jan 2026
- **Updated:** 19 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-74366, BELL-CVE-2025-68801, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-68801, GHSA-8ccp-78hm-hx73, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2025-68801, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-68801, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2025-68801, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-68801, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-68801, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-68801

## What is CVE-2025-68801?

CVE-2025-68801 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux, published on 13 Jan 2026. 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:

mlxsw: spectrum_router: Fix neighbour use-after-free

We sometimes observe use-after-free when dereferencing a neighbour [1].
The problem seems to be that the driver stores a pointer to the
neighbour, but without holding a reference on it. A reference is only
taken when the neighbour is used by a nexthop.

Fix by simplifying the reference counting scheme. Always take a
reference when storing a neighbour pointer in a neighbour entry. Avoid
taking a referencing when the neighbour is used by a nexthop as the
neighbour entry associated with the nexthop already holds a reference.

Tested by running the test that uncovered the problem over 300 times.
Without this patch the problem was reproduced after a handful of
iterations.

[1]
BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in mlxsw_sp_neigh_entry_update+0x2d4/0x310
Read of size 8 at addr ffff88817f8e3420 by task ip/3929

CPU: 3 UID: 0 PID: 3929 Comm: ip Not tainted 6.18.0-rc4-virtme-g36b21a067510 #3 PREEMPT(full)
Hardware name: Nvidia SN5600/VMOD0013, BIOS 5.13 05/31/2023
Call Trace:
 <TASK>
 dump_stack_lvl+0x6f/0xa0
 print_address_description.constprop.0+0x6e/0x300
 print_report+0xfc/0x1fb
 kasan_report+0xe4/0x110
 mlxsw_sp_neigh_entry_update+0x2d4/0x310
 mlxsw_sp_router_rif_gone_sync+0x35f/0x510
 mlxsw_sp_rif_destroy+0x1ea/0x730
 mlxsw_sp_inetaddr_port_vlan_event+0xa1/0x1b0
 __mlxsw_sp_inetaddr_lag_event+0xcc/0x130
 __mlxsw_sp_inetaddr_event+0xf5/0x3c0
 mlxsw_sp_router_netdevice_event+0x1015/0x1580
 notifier_call_chain+0xcc/0x150
 call_netdevice_notifiers_info+0x7e/0x100
 __netdev_upper_dev_unlink+0x10b/0x210
 netdev_upper_dev_unlink+0x79/0xa0
 vrf_del_slave+0x18/0x50
 do_set_master+0x146/0x7d0
 do_setlink.isra.0+0x9a0/0x2880
 rtnl_newlink+0x637/0xb20
 rtnetlink_rcv_msg+0x6fe/0xb90
 netlink_rcv_skb+0x123/0x380
 netlink_unicast+0x4a3/0x770
 netlink_sendmsg+0x75b/0xc90
 __sock_sendmsg+0xbe/0x160
 ____sys_sendmsg+0x5b2/0x7d0
 ___sys_sendmsg+0xfd/0x180
 __sys_sendmsg+0x124/0x1c0
 do_syscall_64+0xbb/0xfd0
 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x4b/0x53
[...]

Allocated by task 109:
 kasan_save_stack+0x30/0x50
 kasan_save_track+0x14/0x30
 __kasan_kmalloc+0x7b/0x90
 __kmalloc_noprof+0x2c1/0x790
 neigh_alloc+0x6af/0x8f0
 ___neigh_create+0x63/0xe90
 mlxsw_sp_nexthop_neigh_init+0x430/0x7e0
 mlxsw_sp_nexthop_type_init+0x212/0x960
 mlxsw_sp_nexthop6_group_info_init.constprop.0+0x81f/0x1280
 mlxsw_sp_nexthop6_group_get+0x392/0x6a0
 mlxsw_sp_fib6_entry_create+0x46a/0xfd0
 mlxsw_sp_router_fib6_replace+0x1ed/0x5f0
 mlxsw_sp_router_fib6_event_work+0x10a/0x2a0
 process_one_work+0xd57/0x1390
 worker_thread+0x4d6/0xd40
 kthread+0x355/0x5b0
 ret_from_fork+0x1d4/0x270
 ret_from_fork_asm+0x11/0x20

Freed by task 154:
 kasan_save_stack+0x30/0x50
 kasan_save_track+0x14/0x30
 __kasan_save_free_info+0x3b/0x60
 __kasan_slab_free+0x43/0x70
 kmem_cache_free_bulk.part.0+0x1eb/0x5e0
 kvfree_rcu_bulk+0x1f2/0x260
 kfree_rcu_work+0x130/0x1b0
 process_one_work+0xd57/0x1390
 worker_thread+0x4d6/0xd40
 kthread+0x355/0x5b0
 ret_from_fork+0x1d4/0x270
 ret_from_fork_asm+0x11/0x20

Last potentially related work creation:
 kasan_save_stack+0x30/0x50
 kasan_record_aux_stack+0x8c/0xa0
 kvfree_call_rcu+0x93/0x5b0
 mlxsw_sp_router_neigh_event_work+0x67d/0x860
 process_one_work+0xd57/0x1390
 worker_thread+0x4d6/0xd40
 kthread+0x355/0x5b0
 ret_from_fork+0x1d4/0x270
 ret_from_fork_asm+0x11/0x20

Weakness: CWE-416 (Use After Free)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-68801?


## How do I fix CVE-2025-68801?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-68801 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-68801 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-68801 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-68801 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux, published on 13 Jan 2026. 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-2025-68801 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-2025-68801/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-68801/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-68801
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-68801
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-68801

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-68801/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.