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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2025-21642

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-01-19
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.6.72 / 6.12.10 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click Patch available

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mptcp: sysctl: sched: avoid using current->nsproxy Using the 'net' structure via 'current' is not recommended for different reasons. First, if the goal is to use it to read or write per-netns data, this is inconsistent with how the "generic" sysctl entries are doing: directly by only using pointers set to the table entry, e.g. table->data. Linked to that, the per-netns data should always be obtained from the table linked to the netns it had been created for, which may not coincide with the reader's or writer's netns. Another reason is that access to current->nsproxy->netns can oops if attempted when current->nsproxy had been dropped when the current task is exiting. This is what syzbot found, when using acct(2): Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc0000000005: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP KASAN PTI KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000028-0x000000000000002f] CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 5924 Comm: syz-executor Not tainted 6.13.0-rc5-syzkaller-00004-gccb98ccef0e5 #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 09/13/2024 RIP: 0010:proc_scheduler+0xc6/0x3c0 net/mptcp/ctrl.c:125 Code: 03 42 80 3c 38 00 0f 85 fe 02 00 00 4d 8b a4 24 08 09 00 00 48 b8 00 00 00 00 00 fc ff df 49 8d 7c 24 28 48 89 fa 48 c1 ea 03 <80> 3c 02 00 0f 85 cc 02 00 00 4d 8b 7c 24 28 48 8d 84 24 c8 00 00 RSP: 0018:ffffc900034774e8 EFLAGS: 00010206 RAX: dffffc0000000000 RBX: 1ffff9200068ee9e RCX: ffffc90003477620 RDX: 0000000000000005 RSI: ffffffff8b08f91e RDI: 0000000000000028 RBP: 0000000000000001 R08: ffffc90003477710 R09: 0000000000000040 R10: 0000000000000040 R11: 00000000726f7475 R12: 0000000000000000 R13: ffffc90003477620 R14: ffffc90003477710 R15: dffffc0000000000 FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff8880b8700000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 00007fee3cd452d8 CR3: 000000007d116000 CR4: 00000000003526f0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 Call Trace: <TASK> proc_sys_call_handler+0x403/0x5d0 fs/proc/proc_sysctl.c:601 __kernel_write_iter+0x318/0xa80 fs/read_write.c:612 __kernel_write+0xf6/0x140 fs/read_write.c:632 do_acct_process+0xcb0/0x14a0 kernel/acct.c:539 acct_pin_kill+0x2d/0x100 kernel/acct.c:192 pin_kill+0x194/0x7c0 fs/fs_pin.c:44 mnt_pin_kill+0x61/0x1e0 fs/fs_pin.c:81 cleanup_mnt+0x3ac/0x450 fs/namespace.c:1366 task_work_run+0x14e/0x250 kernel/task_work.c:239 exit_task_work include/linux/task_work.h:43 [inline] do_exit+0xad8/0x2d70 kernel/exit.c:938 do_group_exit+0xd3/0x2a0 kernel/exit.c:1087 get_signal+0x2576/0x2610 kernel/signal.c:3017 arch_do_signal_or_restart+0x90/0x7e0 arch/x86/kernel/signal.c:337 exit_to_user_mode_loop kernel/entry/common.c:111 [inline] exit_to_user_mode_prepare include/linux/entry-common.h:329 [inline] __syscall_exit_to_user_mode_work kernel/entry/common.c:207 [inline] syscall_exit_to_user_mode+0x150/0x2a0 kernel/entry/common.c:218 do_syscall_64+0xda/0x250 arch/x86/entry/common.c:89 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f RIP: 0033:0x7fee3cb87a6a Code: Unable to access opcode bytes at 0x7fee3cb87a40. RSP: 002b:00007fffcccac688 EFLAGS: 00000202 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000037 RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: 00007fffcccac710 RCX: 00007fee3cb87a6a RDX: 0000000000000041 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: 0000000000000003 RBP: 0000000000000003 R08: 00007fffcccac6ac R09: 00007fffcccacac7 R10: 00007fffcccac710 R11: 0000000000000202 R12: 00007fee3cd49500 R13: 00007fffcccac6ac R14: 0000000000000000 R15: 00007fee3cd4b000 </TASK> Modules linked in: ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- RIP: 0010:proc_scheduler+0xc6/0x3c0 net/mptcp/ctrl.c:125 Code: 03 42 80 3c 38 00 0f 85 fe 02 00 00 4d 8b a4 24 08 09 00 00 48 b8 00 00 00 00 00 fc ---truncated---

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis
How this class of weakness works · CWE-476

The code follows a pointer that is null, crashing the process. An attacker who can reliably trigger it turns the crash into a denial of service. The fix is checking for null before use and handling the failure path gracefully.

General guidance for the null pointer dereference class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Linux KernelOperating system
Affected:>= 6.6.31, < 6.6.72>= 6.8.10, < 6.12.10= 6.13

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 6.6.72 / 6.12.10 or later
Fixed in 6.6.726.12.10
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Linux Kernel 6.6.72, 6.12.10, or 6.13.1 (depending on the branch in use)

  1. 1. Identify the currently running Linux kernel version using 'uname -r' or 'cat /proc/version'
  2. 2. Check if the running kernel version falls within any affected range: 6.6.31-6.6.71, 6.8.10-6.12.9, or 6.13.x
  3. 3. If affected, upgrade the kernel to version 6.6.72 or later for the 6.6.y branch, 6.12.10 or later for the 6.8.y/6.12.y branch, or 6.13.1 or later for the 6.13.y branch
  4. 4. Alternatively, apply the vendor patch commit 6035702381c35a8f16757332381e58b348a9eaf9 to the kernel source and rebuild
  5. 5. After upgrade/patch, reboot the system to load the fixed kernel
  6. 6. Verify the fix is applied by checking the kernel version and confirming the proc_scheduler function no longer references current->nsproxy->netns
Caveat Upgrading kernel major versions may require matching system utilities and drivers; ensure compatibility before upgrading

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $2,850. Get the upgrade done

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-21642 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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