NULL pointer dereference in Linux
CVE-2025-21980
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: sched: address a potential NULL pointer dereference in the GRED scheduler. If kzalloc in gred_init returns a NULL pointer, the code follows the error handling path, invoking gred_destroy. This, in turn, calls gred_offload, where memset could receive a NULL pointer as input, potentially leading to a kernel crash. When table->opt is NULL in gred_init(), gred_change_table_def() is not called yet, so it is not necessary to call ->ndo_setup_tc() in gred_offload().
Published · last modified .
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.
EPSS exploit prediction
EPSS: 0.002 (7.8th percentile), scored .
Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 8th percentile — 7.8% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.
EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.002 · newest: 0.002 · change: 0.000
Affected products
- Linux — versions f25c0515c521375154c62c72447869f40218c861, 5.16, 0
- Linux Kernel — versions 6.14
Weakness classification (CWE)
Public proof-of-concept exploits
References
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2025-21980?
- CVE-2025-21980 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2025-04-01.
- How severe is CVE-2025-21980?
- Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.
- Is CVE-2025-21980 known to be exploited?
- 1 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.