Linux KernelOperating system · Linux
CVE-2025-39851
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: vxlan: Fix NPD when refreshing an FDB entry with a nexthop object VXLAN FDB entries can point to either a remote destination or an FDB nexthop group. The latter is usually used in EVPN deployments where learning is disabled. However, when learning is enabled, an incoming packet might try to refresh an FDB entry that points to an FDB nexthop group and therefore does not have a remote. Such packets should be dropped, but they are only dropped after dereferencing the non-existent remote, resulting in a NPD [1] which can be reproduced using [2]. Fix by dropping such packets earlier. Remove the misleading comment from first_remote_rcu(). [1] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000 [...] CPU: 13 UID: 0 PID: 361 Comm: mausezahn Not tainted 6.17.0-rc1-virtme-g9f6b606b6b37 #1 PREEMPT(voluntary) Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.17.0-4.fc41 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:vxlan_snoop+0x98/0x1e0 [...] Call Trace: <TASK> vxlan_encap_bypass+0x209/0x240 encap_bypass_if_local+0xb1/0x100 vxlan_xmit_one+0x1375/0x17e0 vxlan_xmit+0x6b4/0x15f0 dev_hard_start_xmit+0x5d/0x1c0 __dev_queue_xmit+0x246/0xfd0 packet_sendmsg+0x113a/0x1850 __sock_sendmsg+0x38/0x70 __sys_sendto+0x126/0x180 __x64_sys_sendto+0x24/0x30 do_syscall_64+0xa4/0x260 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x4b/0x53 [2] #!/bin/bash ip address add 192.0.2.1/32 dev lo ip address add 192.0.2.2/32 dev lo ip nexthop add id 1 via 192.0.2.3 fdb ip nexthop add id 10 group 1 fdb ip link add name vx0 up type vxlan id 10010 local 192.0.2.1 dstport 12345 localbypass ip link add name vx1 up type vxlan id 10020 local 192.0.2.2 dstport 54321 learning bridge fdb add 00:11:22:33:44:55 dev vx0 self static dst 192.0.2.2 port 54321 vni 10020 bridge fdb add 00:aa:bb:cc:dd:ee dev vx1 self static nhid 10 mausezahn vx0 -a 00:aa:bb:cc:dd:ee -b 00:11:22:33:44:55 -c 1 -q
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 analysisThe 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
>= 5.8, < 6.12.46>= 6.13, < 6.16.6= 6.17CVSS 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 · scoped6.12.466.16.6
6.12.46 (or 6.16.6 for 6.13-6.16.x, or 6.18+ for 6.17.x)
- Identify the current running kernel version using `uname -r`
- Determine which kernel branch you are running (5.8+, 6.12.x, 6.13-6.16.x, or 6.17.x)
- Upgrade the Linux kernel to a fixed release: 6.12.46 or later if on 6.12.x branch; 6.16.6 or later if on 6.13-6.16.x branch; 6.18 or later if on 6.17.x branch
- Reboot the system to load the new kernel
- Verify the kernel version after reboot with `uname -r` to confirm the fix is applied
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-2025-39851 — 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-2025-39851 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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