Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2025-71131

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-01-14
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.10.248 / 5.15.198 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: crypto: seqiv - Do not use req->iv after crypto_aead_encrypt As soon as crypto_aead_encrypt is called, the underlying request may be freed by an asynchronous completion. Thus dereferencing req->iv after it returns is invalid. Instead of checking req->iv against info, create a new variable unaligned_info and use it for that purpose instead.

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

A detailed technical summary for this CVE is being prepared.

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:>= 2.6.25.1, < 5.10.248>= 5.11, < 5.15.198>= 5.16, < 6.1.160>= 6.2, < 6.6.120>= 6.7, < 6.12.64>= 6.13, < 6.18.4= 2.6.25= 6.19

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 5.10.248 / 5.15.198 / 6.1.160 or later
Fixed in 5.10.2485.15.1986.1.160
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to kernel version 5.10.248, 5.15.198, 6.1.160, or 6.6.120 (or later stable) depending on current branch

  1. Identify the current kernel version using `uname -r`
  2. Determine the appropriate fixed version based on current kernel branch: if < 5.10.248 upgrade to 5.10.248+, if 5.11-5.15.x upgrade to 5.15.198+, if 5.16-6.1.x upgrade to 6.1.160+, if 6.2-6.6.x upgrade to 6.6.120+
  3. Apply the kernel patch from commit 0279978adec6f1296af66b642cce641c6580be46, or upgrade kernel packages via distribution package manager (e.g., `apt update && apt upgrade linux-image` for Debian/Ubuntu, `yum update kernel` for RHEL/CentOS)
  4. Reboot into the updated kernel
  5. Verify the fix is applied by checking the seqiv.c file contains the unaligned_info variable usage instead of direct req->iv reference after crypto_aead_encrypt call
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require rebooting and could have compatibility impacts with out-of-tree modules; ensure critical modules are compatible with target version

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 $1,600. Get the upgrade done

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-71131 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-71131 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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