high CVSS 7.8

CVE-2025-21855·Kernel vulnerability

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ibmvnic: Don't reference skb after sending to VIOS Previously, after successfully flushing the xmit buffer to VIOS, the tx_bytes stat was incremented by the length of the skb. It is invalid to access the skb memory after sending the buffer to the VIOS because, at any point after sending, the VIOS can trigger an interrupt to free this memory. A race between reading skb->len and freeing the skb is possible (especially during LPM) and will result in use-after-free: ================================================================== BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in ibmvnic_xmit+0x75c/0x1808 [ibmvnic] Read of size 4 at addr c00000024eb48a70 by task hxecom/14495 <...> Call Trace: [c000000118f66cf0] [c0000000018cba6c] dump_stack_lvl+0x84/0xe8 (unreliable) [c000000118f66d20] [c0000000006f0080] print_report+0x1a8/0x7f0 [c000000118f66df0] [c0000000006f08f0] kasan_report+0x128/0x1f8 [c000000118f66f00] [c0000000006f2868] __asan_load4+0xac/0xe0 [c000000118f66f20] [c0080000046eac84] ibmvnic_xmit+0x75c/0x1808 [ibmvnic] [c000000118f67340] [c0000000014be168] dev_hard_start_xmit+0x150/0x358 <...> Freed by task 0: kasan_save_stack+0x34/0x68 kasan_save_track+0x2c/0x50 kasan_save_free_info+0x64/0x108 __kasan_mempool_poison_object+0x148/0x2d4 napi_skb_cache_put+0x5c/0x194 net_tx_action+0x154/0x5b8 handle_softirqs+0x20c/0x60c do_softirq_own_stack+0x6c/0x88 <...> The buggy address belongs to the object at c00000024eb48a00 which belongs to the cache skbuff_head_cache of size 224 ==================================================================

Severity: high
Software: Kernel
Fixed in: 6.13.5
Published: 2025-03-12

Affected versions

From: 6.13

Until: 6.13.5

Fixed in: 6.13.5

How to fix this CVE

Update your Linux kernel to version 6.13.5 or later to address a use-after-free vulnerability in the IBM vNIC driver that can cause memory corruption during network packet transmission. This bug occurs when the driver incorrectly accesses socket buffer metadata after sending data to the hypervisor, creating a race condition that is particularly prone to triggering during live partition migration (LPM) events.

sudo dnf update kernel kernel-devel

Defensia detects this vulnerability

How to check if you are affected

Check your current kernel version: uname -r — if it shows 6.13.0 through 6.13.4, you are vulnerable
Verify ibmvnic driver is loaded: lsmod | grep ibmvnic — if output appears, the vulnerable component is present on this system
Search kernel logs for use-after-free indicators: sudo dmesg | grep -i 'use-after-free\|kasan\|ibmvnic' — exploitation attempts may show KASAN reports or memory corruption errors
Confirm the fix by checking the kernel version after patching: uname -r — should display 6.13.5 or later

FAQ

What is CVE-2025-21855?

CVE-2025-21855 is a use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel's IBM vNIC (virtual Network Interface Card) driver where the driver reads socket buffer length after the buffer has been sent to the hypervisor and freed, causing potential kernel memory corruption and system instability.

Is CVE-2025-21855 being actively exploited?

No, CVE-2025-21855 is not listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog and has no public exploit code available. However, the vulnerability is reliably triggerable during live partition migration scenarios.

What versions of Kernel are affected by CVE-2025-21855?

Linux kernel versions 6.13.0 through 6.13.4 are affected. The vulnerability is resolved in kernel 6.13.5 and later.

How do I check if my server is vulnerable to CVE-2025-21855?

Run uname -r to check your kernel version — if it displays 6.13.0 through 6.13.4, you are vulnerable. Additionally, run lsmod | grep ibmvnic to confirm the affected driver is in use on your system.

Does Defensia detect CVE-2025-21855?

Yes — Defensia's CVE advisory scanner compares installed package versions against the NVD database. If Kernel is installed on a monitored server, CVE-2025-21855 will appear in your dashboard with remediation steps.

Related Kernel CVEs

CVE-2026-64439CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: crypto: krb5 - filter out async aead implementations at alloc krb5_aead_encrypt(), krb5_aead_decrypt() in rfc3961_simplified.c and rfc8009_encrypt(), rfc8009_decrypt() in rfc8009_aes2.c set a NULL completion callback and treat any negative return from crypto_aead_{encrypt,decrypt}() as terminal, falling through to kfree_sensitive(buffer). When the encrypt_name resolves to an async AEAD instance the request returns -EINPROGRESS, the buffer is freed while the backend's worker still holds a pointer, and the worker dereferences the freed slab on completion. KASAN report under UML+SLUB with a synthetic async aead backend bound to krb5->encrypt_name: BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in t5_stub_complete+0x7d/0xc7 The helpers were written synchronously, so filter the async instances out at allocation time instead of plumbing crypto_wait_req() through every call site. Reachable via net/rxrpc/rxgk.c, fs/afs/cm_security.c and net/ceph/crypto.c on systems with an async AEAD provider bound to the krb5 enctype name.

CVE-2026-100075CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: RDMA/srpt: Fix srpt_alloc_rw_ctxs() unwind counters When srpt_alloc_rw_ctxs() fails partway through a multi-buffer indirect descriptor, the unwind path destroys RDMA contexts but leaves stale n_rw_ctx and n_rdma values (and a dangling rw_ctxs pointer). Later sq_wr_avail accounting in srpt_queue_response() or srpt_write_pending() can then subtract the wrong number of send queue credits. Reset the counters and clear rw_ctxs after freeing the heap allocation before returning an error.

CVE-2026-64067CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netfs: Fix missing barriers when accessing stream->subrequests locklessly The list of subrequests attached to stream->subrequests is accessed without locks by netfs_collect_read_results() and netfs_collect_write_results(), and then they access subreq->flags without taking a barrier after getting the subreq pointer from the list. Relatedly, the functions that build the list don't use any sort of write barrier when constructing the list to make sure that the NETFS_SREQ_IN_PROGRESS flag is perceived to be set first if no lock is taken. Fix this by: (1) Add a new list_add_tail_release() function that uses a release barrier to set the pointer to the new member of the list. (2) Add a new list_first_entry_or_null_acquire() function that uses an acquire barrier to read the pointer to the first member in a list (or return NULL). (3) Use list_add_tail_release() when adding a subreq to ->subrequests. (4) Use list_first_entry_or_null_acquire() when initially accessing the front of the list (when an item is removed, the pointer to the new front iterm is obtained under the same lock).

CVE-2026-64068CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netfs: Fix missing locking around retry adding new subreqs Fix netfs_retry_read_subrequests() and netfs_retry_write_stream() to take the appropriate lock when adding extra subrequests into stream->subrequests.

CVE-2026-64355CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf: Reject fragmented frames in devmap Devmap broadcast redirects clone the packet for all but the last destination. For native XDP, that clone path copies only the linear xdp_frame data, while fragmented frames keep skb_shared_info in tailroom outside the linear area. Cloning such a frame leaves XDP_FLAGS_HAS_FRAGS set but without valid frag metadata, and the later free path can interpret uninitialized tail data as skb_shared_info, leading to an out-of-bounds access during frame return. Reject fragmented native XDP frames in dev_map_enqueue_clone(). Add the same restriction to the generic XDP clone path in dev_map_redirect_clone(). Generic XDP represents fragmented packets as nonlinear skbs, and rejecting them here keeps clone-based broadcast support aligned between native and generic XDP.

References

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