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TI-2025-15744 Aliases CVE-2025-21792GHSA-pw8p-q2m4-9ch4

ax25: Fix refcount leak caused by setting SO_BINDTODEVICE sockopt

Priority LOW 34Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Local
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low
Impact type
—
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
High · High · High
Fix status
Fixed

Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA.

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ax25: Fix refcount leak caused by setting SO_BINDTODEVICE sockopt If an AX25 device is bound to a socket by setting the SO_BINDTODEVICE socket option, a refcount leak will occur in ax25_release(). Commit 9fd75b66b8f6 ("ax25: Fix refcount leaks caused by ax25_cb_del()") added decrement of device refcounts in ax25_release(). In order for that to work correctly the refcounts must already be incremented when the device is bound to the socket. An AX25 device can be bound to a socket by either calling ax25_bind() or setting SO_BINDTODEVICE socket option. In both cases the refcounts should be incremented, but in fact it is done only in ax25_bind(). This bug leads to the following issue reported by Syzkaller: ================================================================ refcount_t: decrement hit 0; leaking memory. WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 5932 at lib/refcount.c:31 refcount_warn_saturate+0x1ed/0x210 lib/refcount.c:31 Modules linked in: CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 5932 Comm: syz-executor424 Not tainted 6.13.0-rc4-syzkaller-00110-g4099a71718b0 #0 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 1.16.3-debian-1.16.3-2~bpo12+1 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:refcount_warn_saturate+0x1ed/0x210 lib/refcount.c:31 Call Trace: <TASK> __refcount_dec include/linux/refcount.h:336 [inline] refcount_dec include/linux/refcount.h:351 [inline] ref_tracker_free+0x710/0x820 lib/ref_tracker.c:236 netdev_tracker_free include/linux/netdevice.h:4156 [inline] netdev_put include/linux/netdevice.h:4173 [inline] netdev_put include/linux/netdevice.h:4169 [inline] ax25_release+0x33f/0xa10 net/ax25/af_ax25.c:1069 __sock_release+0xb0/0x270 net/socket.c:640 sock_close+0x1c/0x30 net/socket.c:1408 ... do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:52 [inline] do_syscall_64+0xcd/0x250 arch/x86/entry/common.c:83 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f ... </TASK> ================================================================ Fix the implementation of ax25_setsockopt() by adding increment of refcounts for the new device bound, and decrement of refcounts for the old unbound device.

Why it matters now

Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00241 15th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Fixed Linux (Linux): 4.15, 4.20, 5.5 +8

SSVC decision points

CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3

Exploitation
None
Automatable
No
Technical impact
Partial

The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.

Affected products

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
LinuxLinux4.14.277 to before 4.15; 4.19.240 to before 4.20; 5.4.190 to before 5.5; 5.10.112 to before 5.11; 5.15.35 to before 5.16; 5.17.2 to before 5.184.15, 4.20, 5.5, 5.11, 5.16, 5.18Patch availableCNA
LinuxLinux5.18 and later6.1.129, 6.6.79, 6.12.16, 6.13.4, 6.14Patch availableCNA
  • Linux VendorLinux Affected 4.14.277 to before 4.15; 4.19.240 to before 4.20; 5.4.190 to before 5.5; 5.10.112 to before 5.11; 5.15.35 to before 5.16; 5.17.2 to before 5.18 Fixed in 4.15, 4.20, 5.5, 5.11, 5.16, 5.18 Patch available CNA
  • Linux VendorLinux Affected 5.18 and later Fixed in 6.1.129, 6.6.79, 6.12.16, 6.13.4, 6.14 Patch available CNA

CPE configurations NVD · 3

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*4.14.277 to before 4.15; 4.19.240 to before 4.20; 5.4.190 to before 5.5; 5.10.112 to before 5.11; 5.15.35 to before 5.16; 5.17.2 to before 6.1.129; 6.2 to before 6.6.79; 6.7 to before 6.12.16; 6.13 to before 6.13.4VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.14:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*6.14 rc1VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.14:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*6.14 rc2VulnerableLinux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 4.14.277 to before 4.15; 4.19.240 to before 4.20; 5.4.190 to before 5.5; 5.10.112 to before 5.11; 5.15.35 to before 5.16; 5.17.2 to before 6.1.129; 6.2 to before 6.6.79; 6.7 to before 6.12.16; 6.13 to before 6.13.4 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.14:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.14 rc1 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.14:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.14 rc2 Vulnerable ·Linux

Remediation

  • Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 4.15, 4.20, 5.5, 5.11, 5.16, 5.18
  • Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 6.1.129, 6.6.79, 6.12.16, 6.13.4, 6.14

Vendor assessments

Red Hat

Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →

Not affected: 5 products
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2025-21792
  2. 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-pw8p-q2m4-9ch4

References

  • TI-2025-26358 tls: fix handling of zero-length records on the rx_list KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2026-38352 netfilter: bridge: make ebt_snat ARP rewrite writable KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
  • TI-2013-05264 The (1) get_user and (2) put_user API functions in the Linux kernel before 3.5.5 on the… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
  • TI-2022-00125 Integer overflow in kernel KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
  • TI-2013-01864 The perf_swevent_init function in kernel/events/core.c in the Linux kernel before 3.8.9… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
  • TI-2021-05514 Heap Out-Of-Bounds Write in Netfilter IP6T_SO_SET_REPLACE KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.3
See all 15278 →

Sources