CVE-2025-21678 Vulnerability Analysis & Exploit Details

CVE-2025-21678
Vulnerability Scoring

Analysis In Progress
Analysis In Progress

Attack Complexity Details

  • Attack Complexity:
    Attack Complexity Analysis In Progress
  • Attack Vector:
    Attack Vector Under Analysis
  • Privileges Required: None
    No authentication is required for exploitation.
  • Scope:
    Impact is confined to the initially vulnerable component.
  • User Interaction: None
    No user interaction is necessary for exploitation.

CVE-2025-21678 Details

Status: Received on 31 Jan 2025, 12:15 UTC

Last updated: 🕚 02 Feb 2025, 11:15 UTC
Originally published on: 🕛 31 Jan 2025, 12:15 UTC

Time between publication and last update: 1 days

CVSS Release:

CVE-2025-21678 Vulnerability Summary

CVE-2025-21678: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: gtp: Destroy device along with udp socket's netns dismantle. gtp_newlink() links the device to a list in dev_net(dev) instead of src_net, where a udp tunnel socket is created. Even when src_net is removed, the device stays alive on dev_net(dev). Then, removing src_net triggers the splat below. [0] In this example, gtp0 is created in ns2, and the udp socket is created in ns1. ip netns add ns1 ip netns add ns2 ip -n ns1 link add netns ns2 name gtp0 type gtp role sgsn ip netns del ns1 Let's link the device to the socket's netns instead. Now, gtp_net_exit_batch_rtnl() needs another netdev iteration to remove all gtp devices in the netns. [0]: ref_tracker: net notrefcnt@000000003d6e7d05 has 1/2 users at sk_alloc (./include/net/net_namespace.h:345 net/core/sock.c:2236) inet_create (net/ipv4/af_inet.c:326 net/ipv4/af_inet.c:252) __sock_create (net/socket.c:1558) udp_sock_create4 (net/ipv4/udp_tunnel_core.c:18) gtp_create_sock (./include/net/udp_tunnel.h:59 drivers/net/gtp.c:1423) gtp_create_sockets (drivers/net/gtp.c:1447) gtp_newlink (drivers/net/gtp.c:1507) rtnl_newlink (net/core/rtnetlink.c:3786 net/core/rtnetlink.c:3897 net/core/rtnetlink.c:4012) rtnetlink_rcv_msg (net/core/rtnetlink.c:6922) netlink_rcv_skb (net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2542) netlink_unicast (net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1321 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1347) netlink_sendmsg (net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1891) ____sys_sendmsg (net/socket.c:711 net/socket.c:726 net/socket.c:2583) ___sys_sendmsg (net/socket.c:2639) __sys_sendmsg (net/socket.c:2669) do_syscall_64 (arch/x86/entry/common.c:52 arch/x86/entry/common.c:83) WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 60 at lib/ref_tracker.c:179 ref_tracker_dir_exit (lib/ref_tracker.c:179) Modules linked in: CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 60 Comm: kworker/u16:2 Not tainted 6.13.0-rc5-00147-g4c1224501e9d #5 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.16.0-0-gd239552ce722-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 Workqueue: netns cleanup_net RIP: 0010:ref_tracker_dir_exit (lib/ref_tracker.c:179) Code: 00 00 00 fc ff df 4d 8b 26 49 bd 00 01 00 00 00 00 ad de 4c 39 f5 0f 85 df 00 00 00 48 8b 74 24 08 48 89 df e8 a5 cc 12 02 90 <0f> 0b 90 48 8d 6b 44 be 04 00 00 00 48 89 ef e8 80 de 67 ff 48 89 RSP: 0018:ff11000009a07b60 EFLAGS: 00010286 RAX: 0000000000002bd3 RBX: ff1100000f4e1aa0 RCX: 1ffffffff0e40ac6 RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: ffffffff8423ee3c RBP: ff1100000f4e1af0 R08: 0000000000000001 R09: fffffbfff0e395ae R10: 0000000000000001 R11: 0000000000036001 R12: ff1100000f4e1af0 R13: dead000000000100 R14: ff1100000f4e1af0 R15: dffffc0000000000 FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ff1100006ce80000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 00007f9b2464bd98 CR3: 0000000005286005 CR4: 0000000000771ef0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe07f0 DR7: 0000000000000400 PKRU: 55555554 Call Trace: <TASK> ? __warn (kernel/panic.c:748) ? ref_tracker_dir_exit (lib/ref_tracker.c:179) ? report_bug (lib/bug.c:201 lib/bug.c:219) ? handle_bug (arch/x86/kernel/traps.c:285) ? exc_invalid_op (arch/x86/kernel/traps.c:309 (discriminator 1)) ? asm_exc_invalid_op (./arch/x86/include/asm/idtentry.h:621) ? _raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore (./arch/x86/include/asm/irqflags.h:42 ./arch/x86/include/asm/irqflags.h:97 ./arch/x86/include/asm/irqflags.h:155 ./include/linux/spinlock_api_smp.h:151 kernel/locking/spinlock.c:194) ? ref_tracker_dir_exit (lib/ref_tracker.c:179) ? __pfx_ref_tracker_dir_exit (lib/ref_tracker.c:158) ? kfree (mm/slub.c:4613 mm/slub.c:4761) net_free (net/core/net_namespace.c:476 net/core/net_namespace.c:467) cleanup_net (net/core/net_namespace.c:664 (discriminator 3)) process_one_work (kernel/workqueue.c:3229) worker_thread (kernel/workqueue.c:3304 kernel/workqueue.c:3391 ---truncated---

Assessing the Risk of CVE-2025-21678

Access Complexity Graph

The exploitability of CVE-2025-21678 depends on two key factors: attack complexity (the level of effort required to execute an exploit) and privileges required (the access level an attacker needs).

Exploitability Analysis for CVE-2025-21678

No exploitability data is available for CVE-2025-21678.

Understanding AC and PR

A lower complexity and fewer privilege requirements make exploitation easier. Security teams should evaluate these aspects to determine the urgency of mitigation strategies, such as patch management and access control policies.

Attack Complexity (AC) measures the difficulty in executing an exploit. A high AC means that specific conditions must be met, making an attack more challenging, while a low AC means the vulnerability can be exploited with minimal effort.

Privileges Required (PR) determine the level of system access necessary for an attack. Vulnerabilities requiring no privileges are more accessible to attackers, whereas high privilege requirements limit exploitation to authorized users with elevated access.

CVSS Score Breakdown Chart

Above is the CVSS Sub-score Breakdown for CVE-2025-21678, illustrating how Base, Impact, and Exploitability factors combine to form the overall severity rating. A higher sub-score typically indicates a more severe or easier-to-exploit vulnerability.

CIA Impact Analysis

Below is the Impact Analysis for CVE-2025-21678, showing how Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability might be affected if the vulnerability is exploited. Higher values usually signal greater potential damage.

  • Confidentiality: None
    CVE-2025-21678 does not compromise confidentiality.
  • Integrity: None
    CVE-2025-21678 does not impact data integrity.
  • Availability: None
    CVE-2025-21678 does not affect system availability.

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

The EPSS score estimates the probability that this vulnerability will be exploited in the near future.

EPSS Score: 0.044% (probability of exploit)

EPSS Percentile: 12.92% (lower percentile = lower relative risk)
This vulnerability is less risky than approximately 87.08% of others.

CVE-2025-21678 References

External References

CWE Common Weakness Enumeration

Unknown

Protect Your Infrastructure against CVE-2025-21678: Combat Critical CVE Threats

Stay updated with real-time CVE vulnerabilities and take action to secure your systems. Enhance your cybersecurity posture with the latest threat intelligence and mitigation techniques. Develop the skills necessary to defend against CVEs and secure critical infrastructures. Join the top cybersecurity professionals safeguarding today's infrastructures.

Other 5 Recently Published CVEs Vulnerabilities

  • CVE-2025-3805 – A vulnerability classified as critical was found in sarrionandia tournatrack up to 4c13a23f43da5317eea4614870a7a8510fc540ec. Affected by this vulne...
  • CVE-2025-3804 – A vulnerability classified as critical has been found in thautwarm vscode-diana 0.0.1. Affected is an unknown function of the file Gen.py of the co...
  • CVE-2025-3803 – A vulnerability was found in Tenda W12 and i24 3.0.0.4(2887)/3.0.0.5(3644). It has been rated as critical. This issue affects the function cgiSysSc...
  • CVE-2025-3802 – A vulnerability was found in Tenda W12 and i24 3.0.0.4(2887)/3.0.0.5(3644). It has been declared as critical. This vulnerability affects the functi...
  • CVE-2025-3801 – A vulnerability was found in songquanpeng one-api up to 0.6.10. It has been classified as problematic. This affects an unknown part of the componen...