# CVE-2025-71088: mptcp: fallback earlier on simult connection

> A race condition in the Linux kernel MPTCP subsystem can cause a kernel warning and potential denial of service during simultaneous connections.

- **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:** 13 Jan 2026
- **Updated:** 15 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2025-71088, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-71088, GHSA-7xjf-vxwf-j6g3, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-71088, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2025-71088, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-71088, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-71088

## What is CVE-2025-71088?

CVE-2025-71088 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, 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:

mptcp: fallback earlier on simult connection

Syzkaller reports a simult-connect race leading to inconsistent fallback
status:

  WARNING: CPU: 3 PID: 33 at net/mptcp/subflow.c:1515 subflow_data_ready+0x40b/0x7c0 net/mptcp/subflow.c:1515
  Modules linked in:
  CPU: 3 UID: 0 PID: 33 Comm: ksoftirqd/3 Not tainted syzkaller #0 PREEMPT(full)
  Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 1.16.3-debian-1.16.3-2~bpo12+1 04/01/2014
  RIP: 0010:subflow_data_ready+0x40b/0x7c0 net/mptcp/subflow.c:1515
  Code: 89 ee e8 78 61 3c f6 40 84 ed 75 21 e8 8e 66 3c f6 44 89 fe bf 07 00 00 00 e8 c1 61 3c f6 41 83 ff 07 74 09 e8 76 66 3c f6 90 <0f> 0b 90 e8 6d 66 3c f6 48 89 df e8 e5 ad ff ff 31 ff 89 c5 89 c6
  RSP: 0018:ffffc900006cf338 EFLAGS: 00010246
  RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffff888031acd100 RCX: ffffffff8b7f2abf
  RDX: ffff88801e6ea440 RSI: ffffffff8b7f2aca RDI: 0000000000000005
  RBP: 0000000000000000 R08: 0000000000000005 R09: 0000000000000007
  R10: 0000000000000004 R11: 0000000000002c10 R12: ffff88802ba69900
  R13: 1ffff920000d9e67 R14: ffff888046f81800 R15: 0000000000000004
  FS:  0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff8880d69bc000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
  CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
  CR2: 0000560fc0ca1670 CR3: 0000000032c3a000 CR4: 0000000000352ef0
  Call Trace:
   <TASK>
   tcp_data_queue+0x13b0/0x4f90 net/ipv4/tcp_input.c:5197
   tcp_rcv_state_process+0xfdf/0x4ec0 net/ipv4/tcp_input.c:6922
   tcp_v6_do_rcv+0x492/0x1740 net/ipv6/tcp_ipv6.c:1672
   tcp_v6_rcv+0x2976/0x41e0 net/ipv6/tcp_ipv6.c:1918
   ip6_protocol_deliver_rcu+0x188/0x1520 net/ipv6/ip6_input.c:438
   ip6_input_finish+0x1e4/0x4b0 net/ipv6/ip6_input.c:489
   NF_HOOK include/linux/netfilter.h:318 [inline]
   NF_HOOK include/linux/netfilter.h:312 [inline]
   ip6_input+0x105/0x2f0 net/ipv6/ip6_input.c:500
   dst_input include/net/dst.h:471 [inline]
   ip6_rcv_finish net/ipv6/ip6_input.c:79 [inline]
   NF_HOOK include/linux/netfilter.h:318 [inline]
   NF_HOOK include/linux/netfilter.h:312 [inline]
   ipv6_rcv+0x264/0x650 net/ipv6/ip6_input.c:311
   __netif_receive_skb_one_core+0x12d/0x1e0 net/core/dev.c:5979
   __netif_receive_skb+0x1d/0x160 net/core/dev.c:6092
   process_backlog+0x442/0x15e0 net/core/dev.c:6444
   __napi_poll.constprop.0+0xba/0x550 net/core/dev.c:7494
   napi_poll net/core/dev.c:7557 [inline]
   net_rx_action+0xa9f/0xfe0 net/core/dev.c:7684
   handle_softirqs+0x216/0x8e0 kernel/softirq.c:579
   run_ksoftirqd kernel/softirq.c:968 [inline]
   run_ksoftirqd+0x3a/0x60 kernel/softirq.c:960
   smpboot_thread_fn+0x3f7/0xae0 kernel/smpboot.c:160
   kthread+0x3c2/0x780 kernel/kthread.c:463
   ret_from_fork+0x5d7/0x6f0 arch/x86/kernel/process.c:148
   ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:245
   </TASK>

The TCP subflow can process the simult-connect syn-ack packet after
transitioning to TCP_FIN1 state, bypassing the MPTCP fallback check,
as the sk_state_change() callback is not invoked for * -> FIN_WAIT1
transitions.

That will move the msk socket to an inconsistent status and the next
incoming data will hit the reported splat.

Close the race moving the simult-fallback check at the earliest possible
stage - that is at syn-ack generation time.

About the fixes tags: [2] was supposed to also fix this issue introduced
by [3]. [1] is required as a dependence: it was not explicitly marked as
a fix, but it is one and it has already been backported before [3]. In
other words, this commit should be backported up to [3], including [2]
and [1] if that's not already there.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-71088?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-71088?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-71088 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-71088 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-2025-71088 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-71088 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, 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-2025-71088 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-2025-71088/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-71088/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-71088
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-71088
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-71088

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-71088/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.