NULL pointer dereference in Linux
CVE-2025-21670
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: vsock/bpf: return early if transport is not assigned Some of the core functions can only be called if the transport has been assigned. As Michal reported, a socket might have the transport at NULL, for example after a failed connect(), causing the following trace: BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 00000000000000a0 #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page PGD 12faf8067 P4D 12faf8067 PUD 113670067 PMD 0 Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP NOPTI CPU: 15 UID: 0 PID: 1198 Comm: a.out Not tainted 6.13.0-rc2+ RIP: 0010:vsock_connectible_has_data+0x1f/0x40 Call Trace: vsock_bpf_recvmsg+0xca/0x5e0 sock_recvmsg+0xb9/0xc0 __sys_recvfrom+0xb3/0x130 __x64_sys_recvfrom+0x20/0x30 do_syscall_64+0x93/0x180 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e So we need to check the `vsk->transport` in vsock_bpf_recvmsg(), especially for connected sockets (stream/seqpacket) as we already do in __vsock_connectible_recvmsg().
EPSS: 0.002 (10.1th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 5.5 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
Affected products
- Linux — versions 634f1a7110b439c65fd8a809171c1d2d28bcea6f, 6.4, 0
- Linux Linux_kernel — versions 6.13
Weakness classification (CWE)
Public proof-of-concept exploits
References
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2025-21670?
- CVE-2025-21670 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2025-01-31.
- How severe is CVE-2025-21670?
- Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.
- Is CVE-2025-21670 known to be exploited?
- 2 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.