high CVSS 7.8

CVE-2025-21692·Kernel vulnerability

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: sched: fix ets qdisc OOB Indexing Haowei Yan <g1042620637@gmail.com> found that ets_class_from_arg() can index an Out-Of-Bound class in ets_class_from_arg() when passed clid of 0. The overflow may cause local privilege escalation. [ 18.852298] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 18.853271] UBSAN: array-index-out-of-bounds in net/sched/sch_ets.c:93:20 [ 18.853743] index 18446744073709551615 is out of range for type 'ets_class [16]' [ 18.854254] CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 1275 Comm: poc Not tainted 6.12.6-dirty #17 [ 18.854821] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.15.0-1 04/01/2014 [ 18.856532] Call Trace: [ 18.857441] <TASK> [ 18.858227] dump_stack_lvl+0xc2/0xf0 [ 18.859607] dump_stack+0x10/0x20 [ 18.860908] __ubsan_handle_out_of_bounds+0xa7/0xf0 [ 18.864022] ets_class_change+0x3d6/0x3f0 [ 18.864322] tc_ctl_tclass+0x251/0x910 [ 18.864587] ? lock_acquire+0x5e/0x140 [ 18.865113] ? __mutex_lock+0x9c/0xe70 [ 18.866009] ? __mutex_lock+0xa34/0xe70 [ 18.866401] rtnetlink_rcv_msg+0x170/0x6f0 [ 18.866806] ? __lock_acquire+0x578/0xc10 [ 18.867184] ? __pfx_rtnetlink_rcv_msg+0x10/0x10 [ 18.867503] netlink_rcv_skb+0x59/0x110 [ 18.867776] rtnetlink_rcv+0x15/0x30 [ 18.868159] netlink_unicast+0x1c3/0x2b0 [ 18.868440] netlink_sendmsg+0x239/0x4b0 [ 18.868721] ____sys_sendmsg+0x3e2/0x410 [ 18.869012] ___sys_sendmsg+0x88/0xe0 [ 18.869276] ? rseq_ip_fixup+0x198/0x260 [ 18.869563] ? rseq_update_cpu_node_id+0x10a/0x190 [ 18.869900] ? trace_hardirqs_off+0x5a/0xd0 [ 18.870196] ? syscall_exit_to_user_mode+0xcc/0x220 [ 18.870547] ? do_syscall_64+0x93/0x150 [ 18.870821] ? __memcg_slab_free_hook+0x69/0x290 [ 18.871157] __sys_sendmsg+0x69/0xd0 [ 18.871416] __x64_sys_sendmsg+0x1d/0x30 [ 18.871699] x64_sys_call+0x9e2/0x2670 [ 18.871979] do_syscall_64+0x87/0x150 [ 18.873280] ? do_syscall_64+0x93/0x150 [ 18.874742] ? lock_release+0x7b/0x160 [ 18.876157] ? do_user_addr_fault+0x5ce/0x8f0 [ 18.877833] ? irqentry_exit_to_user_mode+0xc2/0x210 [ 18.879608] ? irqentry_exit+0x77/0xb0 [ 18.879808] ? clear_bhb_loop+0x15/0x70 [ 18.880023] ? clear_bhb_loop+0x15/0x70 [ 18.880223] ? clear_bhb_loop+0x15/0x70 [ 18.880426] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e [ 18.880683] RIP: 0033:0x44a957 [ 18.880851] Code: ff ff e8 fc 00 00 00 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 66 90 f3 0f 1e fa 64 8b 04 25 18 00 00 00 85 c0 75 10 b8 2e 00 00 00 0f 05 <48> 3d 00 f0 ff ff 77 51 c3 48 83 ec 28 89 54 24 1c 48 8974 24 10 [ 18.881766] RSP: 002b:00007ffcdd00fad8 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 000000000000002e [ 18.882149] RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00007ffcdd010db8 RCX: 000000000044a957 [ 18.882507] RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 00007ffcdd00fb70 RDI: 0000000000000003 [ 18.885037] RBP: 00007ffcdd010bc0 R08: 000000000703c770 R09: 000000000703c7c0 [ 18.887203] R10: 0000000000000080 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 0000000000000001 [ 18.888026] R13: 00007ffcdd010da8 R14: 00000000004ca7d0 R15: 0000000000000001 [ 18.888395] </TASK> [ 18.888610] ---[ end trace ]---

Severity
high
Software
Kernel
Fixed in
6.12.12
Published
2025-02-10

Affected versions

From: 6.7

Until: 6.12.12

Fixed in: 6.12.12

How to fix this CVE

Update your Linux kernel to version 6.12.12 or later to patch an out-of-bounds indexing vulnerability in the ETS qdisc scheduler. This vulnerability allows local attackers with unprivileged access to cause a denial of service or potentially escalate privileges. Apply the kernel update immediately through your distribution's package manager and reboot the system.

sudo dnf update kernel kernel-devel && sudo reboot

Defensia detects this vulnerability

How to check if you are affected

  1. Check installed kernel version: uname -r — verify it is 6.12.12 or later
  2. Verify ETS qdisc is in use: tc qdisc show | grep ets — if present, the affected code path is active
  3. Check kernel configuration: cat /boot/config-$(uname -r) | grep CONFIG_NET_SCH_ETS — confirm ETS qdisc support is compiled in
  4. Monitor dmesg for UBSAN warnings: dmesg | grep 'UBSAN.*sch_ets' — exploitation attempts will trigger out-of-bounds index warnings

FAQ

What is CVE-2025-21692?

CVE-2025-21692 is a kernel vulnerability in the ETS (Enhanced Transmission Selection) qdisc scheduler that allows improper class indexing when a zero class ID is passed, potentially leading to out-of-bounds memory access and privilege escalation.

Is CVE-2025-21692 being actively exploited?

No, CVE-2025-21692 is not listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog and no public exploits are currently available.

What versions of Kernel are affected by CVE-2025-21692?

Linux kernel versions 6.7 through 6.12.11 are vulnerable; version 6.12.12 and later contain the fix.

How do I check if my server is vulnerable to CVE-2025-21692?

Run 'uname -r' to check your kernel version — if it is between 6.7 and 6.12.11, you are vulnerable; also verify ETS qdisc support is active with 'tc qdisc show | grep ets'.

Does Defensia detect CVE-2025-21692?

Yes — Defensia's CVE advisory scanner compares installed package versions against the NVD database. If the Linux kernel is installed on a monitored server running versions 6.7-6.12.11, CVE-2025-21692 will appear in your dashboard with remediation steps.

Related Kernel CVEs

CVE-2024-42256CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: cifs: Fix server re-repick on subrequest retry When a subrequest is marked for needing retry, netfs will call cifs_prepare_write() which will make cifs repick the server for the op before renegotiating credits; it then calls cifs_issue_write() which invokes smb2_async_writev() - which re-repicks the server. If a different server is then selected, this causes the increment of server->in_flight to happen against one record and the decrement to happen against another, leading to misaccounting. Fix this by just removing the repick code in smb2_async_writev(). As this is only called from netfslib-driven code, cifs_prepare_write() should always have been called first, and so server should never be NULL and the preparatory step is repeated in the event that we do a retry. The problem manifests as a warning looking something like: WARNING: CPU: 4 PID: 72896 at fs/smb/client/smb2ops.c:97 smb2_add_credits+0x3f0/0x9e0 [cifs] ... RIP: 0010:smb2_add_credits+0x3f0/0x9e0 [cifs] ... smb2_writev_callback+0x334/0x560 [cifs] cifs_demultiplex_thread+0x77a/0x11b0 [cifs] kthread+0x187/0x1d0 ret_from_fork+0x34/0x60 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 Which may be triggered by a number of different xfstests running against an Azure server in multichannel mode. generic/249 seems the most repeatable, but generic/215, generic/249 and generic/308 may also show it.
CVE-2024-36031CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: keys: Fix overwrite of key expiration on instantiation The expiry time of a key is unconditionally overwritten during instantiation, defaulting to turn it permanent. This causes a problem for DNS resolution as the expiration set by user-space is overwritten to TIME64_MAX, disabling further DNS updates. Fix this by restoring the condition that key_set_expiry is only called when the pre-parser sets a specific expiry.
CVE-2024-38612CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ipv6: sr: fix invalid unregister error path The error path of seg6_init() is wrong in case CONFIG_IPV6_SEG6_LWTUNNEL is not defined. In that case if seg6_hmac_init() fails, the genl_unregister_family() isn't called. This issue exist since commit 46738b1317e1 ("ipv6: sr: add option to control lwtunnel support"), and commit 5559cea2d5aa ("ipv6: sr: fix possible use-after-free and null-ptr-deref") replaced unregister_pernet_subsys() with genl_unregister_family() in this error path.
CVE-2024-38623CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: fs/ntfs3: Use variable length array instead of fixed size Should fix smatch warning: ntfs_set_label() error: __builtin_memcpy() 'uni->name' too small (20 vs 256)
CVE-2021-47548CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ethernet: hisilicon: hns: hns_dsaf_misc: fix a possible array overflow in hns_dsaf_ge_srst_by_port() The if statement: if (port >= DSAF_GE_NUM) return; limits the value of port less than DSAF_GE_NUM (i.e., 8). However, if the value of port is 6 or 7, an array overflow could occur: port_rst_off = dsaf_dev->mac_cb[port]->port_rst_off; because the length of dsaf_dev->mac_cb is DSAF_MAX_PORT_NUM (i.e., 6). To fix this possible array overflow, we first check port and if it is greater than or equal to DSAF_MAX_PORT_NUM, the function returns.

References

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