Linux KernelOperating system · Linux
CVE-2025-21855
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 · uneditedIn 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 ==================================================================
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 analysisMemory is used after it has been freed, so its contents — now potentially attacker-controlled — drive the program's behaviour. With careful heap grooming this becomes code execution. The fix requires disciplined ownership of memory and often a targeted rework of the object lifecycle.
General guidance for the use after free 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
>= 4.5, < 6.1.130>= 6.2, < 6.6.80>= 6.7, < 6.12.17>= 6.13, < 6.13.5= 6.14CVSS 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
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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 · scoped6.1.1306.6.806.12.17
Upgrade to Linux kernel 6.1.130, 6.6.80, 6.12.17, 6.13.5 or later stable releases
- 1. Identify the current running kernel version using 'uname -r' or 'cat /proc/version'
- 2. Determine which kernel branch you are currently on (e.g., 6.1.x, 6.2.x, 6.7.x, 6.13.x)
- 3. Upgrade the Linux kernel to one of the fixed releases: 6.1.130, 6.6.80, 6.12.17, or 6.13.5 (or a later stable release in your branch)
- 4. For Debian-based systems: 'apt-get update && apt-get install linux-image-<version>' followed by rebooting
- 5. For RHEL/CentOS systems: 'yum update kernel' followed by rebooting
- 6. For other distributions, use the distribution's standard kernel upgrade procedure
- 7. Reboot the system to load the fixed kernel
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-21855 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-21855 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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