CVE-2025-68815 net/sched: ets: Remove drr class from the active list if it changes to strict

What is CVE-2025-68815?

CVE-2025-68815 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:

net/sched: ets: Remove drr class from the active list if it changes to strict

Whenever a user issues an ets qdisc change command, transforming a drr class into a strict one, the ets code isn't checking whether that class was in the active list and removing it. This means that, if a user changes a strict class (which was in the active list) back to a drr one, that class will be added twice to the active list [1].

Doing so with the following commands:

tc qdisc add dev lo root handle 1: ets bands 2 strict 1 tc qdisc add dev lo parent 1:2 handle 20: \ tbf rate 8bit burst 100b latency 1s tc filter add dev lo parent 1: basic classid 1:2 ping -c1 -W0.01 -s 56 127.0.0.1 tc qdisc change dev lo root handle 1: ets bands 2 strict 2 tc qdisc change dev lo root handle 1: ets bands 2 strict 1 ping -c1 -W0.01 -s 56 127.0.0.1

Will trigger the following splat with list debug turned on:

[ 59.279014][ T365] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 59.279452][ T365] list_add double add: new=ffff88801d60e350, prev=ffff88801d60e350, next=ffff88801d60e2c0. [ 59.280153][ T365] WARNING: CPU: 3 PID: 365 at lib/list_debug.c:35 __list_add_valid_or_report+0x17f/0x220 [ 59.280860][ T365] Modules linked in: [ 59.281165][ T365] CPU: 3 UID: 0 PID: 365 Comm: tc Not tainted 6.18.0-rc7-00105-g7e9f13163c13-dirty #239 PREEMPT(voluntary) [ 59.281977][ T365] Hardware name: Bochs Bochs, BIOS Bochs 01/01/2011 [ 59.282391][ T365] RIP: 0010:__list_add_valid_or_report+0x17f/0x220 [ 59.282842][ T365] Code: 89 c6 e8 d4 b7 0d ff 90 0f 0b 90 90 31 c0 e9 31 ff ff ff 90 48 c7 c7 e0 a0 22 9f 48 89 f2 48 89 c1 4c 89 c6 e8 b2 b7 0d ff 90 <0f> 0b 90 90 31 c0 e9 0f ff ff ff 48 89 f7 48 89 44 24 10 4c 89 44 ... [ 59.288812][ T365] Call Trace: [ 59.289056][ T365] <TASK> [ 59.289224][ T365] ? srso_alias_return_thunk+0x5/0xfbef5 [ 59.289546][ T365] ets_qdisc_change+0xd2b/0x1e80 [ 59.289891][ T365] ? __lock_acquire+0x7e7/0x1be0 [ 59.290223][ T365] ? __pfx_ets_qdisc_change+0x10/0x10 [ 59.290546][ T365] ? srso_alias_return_thunk+0x5/0xfbef5 [ 59.290898][ T365] ? __mutex_trylock_common+0xda/0x240 [ 59.291228][ T365] ? __pfx___mutex_trylock_common+0x10/0x10 [ 59.291655][ T365] ? srso_alias_return_thunk+0x5/0xfbef5 [ 59.291993][ T365] ? srso_alias_return_thunk+0x5/0xfbef5 [ 59.292313][ T365] ? trace_contention_end+0xc8/0x110 [ 59.292656][ T365] ? srso_alias_return_thunk+0x5/0xfbef5 [ 59.293022][ T365] ? srso_alias_return_thunk+0x5/0xfbef5 [ 59.293351][ T365] tc_modify_qdisc+0x63a/0x1cf0

Fix this by always checking and removing an ets class from the active list when changing it to strict.

[1] https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/netdev/net.git/tree/net/sched/sch_ets.c?id=ce052b9402e461a9aded599f5b47e76bc727f7de#n663

Weakness: CWE-416

Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-68815?

How do I fix CVE-2025-68815?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Upgrade to the fixed version. These bugs are found with fuzzing and sanitisers and avoided by memory-safe languages. More about Use after free.

Is CVE-2025-68815 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-68815 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as AZL-74426, BELL-CVE-2025-68815, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-68815, GHSA-46xw-4v36-6pr8, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2025-68815, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-68815 and 4 more.