net: switchdev: Convert blocking notification chain to a raw one
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Denial of service
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · High
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 3 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-667 and the CVSS impact.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: switchdev: Convert blocking notification chain to a raw one A blocking notification chain uses a read-write semaphore to protect the integrity of the chain. The semaphore is acquired for writing when adding / removing notifiers to / from the chain and acquired for reading when traversing the chain and informing notifiers about an event. In case of the blocking switchdev notification chain, recursive notifications are possible which leads to the semaphore being acquired twice for reading and to lockdep warnings being generated [1]. Specifically, this can happen when the bridge driver processes a SWITCHDEV_BRPORT_UNOFFLOADED event which causes it to emit notifications about deferred events when calling switchdev_deferred_process(). Fix this by converting the notification chain to a raw notification chain in a similar fashion to the netdev notification chain. Protect the chain using the RTNL mutex by acquiring it when modifying the chain. Events are always informed under the RTNL mutex, but add an assertion in call_switchdev_blocking_notifiers() to make sure this is not violated in the future. Maintain the "blocking" prefix as events are always emitted from process context and listeners are allowed to block. [1]: WARNING: possible recursive locking detected 6.14.0-rc4-custom-g079270089484 #1 Not tainted -------------------------------------------- ip/52731 is trying to acquire lock: ffffffff850918d8 ((switchdev_blocking_notif_chain).rwsem){++++}-{4:4}, at: blocking_notifier_call_chain+0x58/0xa0 but task is already holding lock: ffffffff850918d8 ((switchdev_blocking_notif_chain).rwsem){++++}-{4:4}, at: blocking_notifier_call_chain+0x58/0xa0 other info that might help us debug this: Possible unsafe locking scenario: CPU0 ---- lock((switchdev_blocking_notif_chain).rwsem); lock((switchdev_blocking_notif_chain).rwsem); *** DEADLOCK *** May be due to missing lock nesting notation 3 locks held by ip/52731: #0: ffffffff84f795b0 (rtnl_mutex){+.+.}-{4:4}, at: rtnl_newlink+0x727/0x1dc0 #1: ffffffff8731f628 (&net->rtnl_mutex){+.+.}-{4:4}, at: rtnl_newlink+0x790/0x1dc0 #2: ffffffff850918d8 ((switchdev_blocking_notif_chain).rwsem){++++}-{4:4}, at: blocking_notifier_call_chain+0x58/0xa0 stack backtrace: ... ? __pfx_down_read+0x10/0x10 ? __pfx_mark_lock+0x10/0x10 ? __pfx_switchdev_port_attr_set_deferred+0x10/0x10 blocking_notifier_call_chain+0x58/0xa0 switchdev_port_attr_notify.constprop.0+0xb3/0x1b0 ? __pfx_switchdev_port_attr_notify.constprop.0+0x10/0x10 ? mark_held_locks+0x94/0xe0 ? switchdev_deferred_process+0x11a/0x340 switchdev_port_attr_set_deferred+0x27/0xd0 switchdev_deferred_process+0x164/0x340 br_switchdev_port_unoffload+0xc8/0x100 [bridge] br_switchdev_blocking_event+0x29f/0x580 [bridge] notifier_call_chain+0xa2/0x440 blocking_notifier_call_chain+0x6e/0xa0 switchdev_bridge_port_unoffload+0xde/0x1a0 ...
Why it matters now
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
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | 6.1.80 to before 6.1.132; 6.6.19 to before 6.6.84; 6.7.7 to before 6.8 | 6.1.132, 6.6.84, 6.8 | Patch available | CNA |
| Linux | Linux | 6.8 and later | 6.1.132, 6.6.84, 6.12.20, 6.13.8, 6.14 | Patch available | CNA |
- Linux VendorLinux Affected 6.1.80 to before 6.1.132; 6.6.19 to before 6.6.84; 6.7.7 to before 6.8 Fixed in 6.1.132, 6.6.84, 6.8 Patch available CNA
- Linux VendorLinux Affected 6.8 and later Fixed in 6.1.132, 6.6.84, 6.12.20, 6.13.8, 6.14 Patch available CNA
CPE configurations NVD · 10
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.1.80 to before 6.1.132; 6.6.19 to before 6.6.84; 6.7.7 to before 6.8; 6.8.1 to before 6.12.20; 6.13 to before 6.13.8 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.8:-:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.8 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.8:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.8 rc6 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.8:rc7:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.8 rc7 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.14:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.14 rc1 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.14:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.14 rc2 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.14:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.14 rc3 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.14:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.14 rc4 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.14:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.14 rc5 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.14:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.14 rc6 | Vulnerable | Linux |
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.1.80 to before 6.1.132; 6.6.19 to before 6.6.84; 6.7.7 to before 6.8; 6.8.1 to before 6.12.20; 6.13 to before 6.13.8 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.8:-:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.8 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.8:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.8 rc6 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.8:rc7:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.8 rc7 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
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.14:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.14 rc3 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.14:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.14 rc4 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.14:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.14 rc5 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.14:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.14 rc6 Vulnerable ·Linux
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 6.1.132, 6.6.84, 6.8
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 6.1.132, 6.6.84, 6.12.20, 6.13.8, 6.14
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Low. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
Not affected: 2 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2025-21986
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-vcr5-6jvw-92h4
- 2026-11-05 CISA SSVC decision points changed
References
Patch 5
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/af757f5ee3f754c5dceefb05c12ff37cb46fc682
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1f7d051814e7a0cb1f0717ed5527c1059992129d
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a597d4b75669ec82c72cbee9fe75a15d04b35b2b
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f9ed3fb50b872bd78bcb01f25087f9e4e25085d8
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/62531a1effa87bdab12d5104015af72e60d926ff
More Linux Kernel vulnerabilities
- 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
Sources
- CVE-2025-21986 · CVE Program
- CVE-2025-21986 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-vcr5-6jvw-92h4 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2025-21986 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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