NULL pointer dereference in Linux

CVE-2025-71098

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ip6_gre: make ip6gre_header() robust Over the years, syzbot found many ways to crash the kernel in ip6gre_header() [1]. This involves team or bonding drivers ability to dynamically change their dev->needed_headroom and/or dev->hard_header_len In this particular crash mld_newpack() allocated an skb with a too small reserve/headroom, and by the time mld_sendpack() was called, syzbot managed to attach an ip6gre device. [1] skbuff: skb_under_panic: text:ffffffff8a1d69a8 len:136 put:40 head:ffff888059bc7000 data:ffff888059bc6fe8 tail:0x70 end:0x6c0 dev:team0 ------------[ cut here ]------------ kernel BUG at net/core/skbuff.c:213 ! <TASK> skb_under_panic net/core/skbuff.c:223 [inline] skb_push+0xc3/0xe0 net/core/skbuff.c:2641 ip6gre_header+0xc8/0x790 net/ipv6/ip6_gre.c:1371 dev_hard_header include/linux/netdevice.h:3436 [inline] neigh_connected_output+0x286/0x460 net/core/neighbour.c:1618 neigh_output include/net/neighbour.h:556 [inline] ip6_finish_output2+0xfb3/0x1480 net/ipv6/ip6_output.c:136 __ip6_finish_output net/ipv6/ip6_output.c:-1 [inline] ip6_finish_output+0x234/0x7d0 net/ipv6/ip6_output.c:220 NF_HOOK_COND include/linux/netfilter.h:307 [inline] ip6_output+0x340/0x550 net/ipv6/ip6_output.c:247 NF_HOOK+0x9e/0x380 include/linux/netfilter.h:318 mld_sendpack+0x8d4/0xe60 net/ipv6/mcast.c:1855 mld_send_cr net/ipv6/mcast.c:2154 [inline] mld_ifc_work+0x83e/0xd60 net/ipv6/mcast.c:2693

EPSS: 0.001 (1.8th 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

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2025-71098?
CVE-2025-71098 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2026-01-13.
How severe is CVE-2025-71098?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.