CVE-2025-68241 json
ipv4: route: Prevent rt_bind_exception() from rebinding stale fnhe
published 2025-12-16 10 mo ago modified 2026-10-14 26 d ago also EUVD-2025-203655
- cvss
- 7.5
- version 3.1, CNA
- cisa kev
- Not listed
- not in CISA's catalog
- epss
- 0.5%
- EPSS 0.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 40%
- public exploits
- 0
- none known
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
ipv4: route: Prevent rt_bind_exception() from rebinding stale fnhe
The sit driver's packet transmission path calls: sit_tunnel_xmit() -> update_or_create_fnhe(), which lead to fnhe_remove_oldest() being called to delete entries exceeding FNHE_RECLAIM_DEPTH+random.
The race window is between fnhe_remove_oldest() selecting fnheX for deletion and the subsequent kfree_rcu(). During this time, the concurrent path's __mkroute_output() -> find_exception() can fetch the soon-to-be-deleted fnheX, and rt_bind_exception() then binds it with a new dst using a dst_hold(). When the original fnheX is freed via RCU, the dst reference remains permanently leaked.
CPU 0 CPU 1 __mkroute_output() find_exception() [fnheX] update_or_create_fnhe() fnhe_remove_oldest() [fnheX] rt_bind_exception() [bind dst] RCU callback [fnheX freed, dst leak]
This issue manifests as a device reference count leak and a warning in dmesg when unregistering the net device:
unregister_netdevice: waiting for sitX to become free. Usage count = N
Ido Schimmel provided the simple test validation method [1].
The fix clears 'oldest->fnhe_daddr' before calling fnhe_flush_routes(). Since rt_bind_exception() checks this field, setting it to zero prevents the stale fnhe from being reused and bound to a new dst just before it is freed.
[1] ip netns add ns1 ip -n ns1 link set dev lo up ip -n ns1 address add 192.0.2.1/32 dev lo ip -n ns1 link add name dummy1 up type dummy ip -n ns1 route add 192.0.2.2/32 dev dummy1 ip -n ns1 link add name gretap1 up arp off type gretap \ local 192.0.2.1 remote 192.0.2.2 ip -n ns1 route add 198.51.0.0/16 dev gretap1 taskset -c 0 ip netns exec ns1 mausezahn gretap1 \ -A 198.51.100.1 -B 198.51.0.0/16 -t udp -p 1000 -c 0 -q & taskset -c 2 ip netns exec ns1 mausezahn gretap1 \ -A 198.51.100.1 -B 198.51.0.0/16 -t udp -p 1000 -c 0 -q & sleep 10 ip netns pids ns1 | xargs kill ip netns del ns1
Patch / fix
- Linux Linux 4.5, 4.10, 4.15, 4.20, 5.4.302, 5.10.247, 5.14, 5.15, 5.15.197, 6.1.159, 6.6.117, 6.12.59, 6.17.9, 6.18
- linux Debian 12 6.1.159-1
- linux Debian 13 6.12.63-1
- linux Debian 14 6.17.9-1
debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2025-68241
- linux Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-173.183
- linux Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-106.106
- linux Ubuntu 25.10 6.17.0-14.14
- linux-aws Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-1103.110
- linux-aws Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1050.53
- linux-aws Ubuntu 25.10 6.17.0-1007.7
- linux-gcp Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-1103.112
- linux-gcp Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1052.55
ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2025-68241
Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0
- kernel-rt Linux Micro 6.1, Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-40.1
- kernel-source-rt Linux Micro 6.1, Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-40.1
- kernel-rt Linux Micro 6.2 6.12.0-160000.26.1
- kernel-64kb SLES 16.0, Linux Micro 6.2, SLES for SAP applications 16.0 6.12.0-160000.26.1
- kernel-source SLES 16.0, Linux Micro 6.2, SLES for SAP applications 16.0 6.12.0-160000.26.1
- kernel-default SLES 16.0, SLE High Availability Extension 16.0, Linux Micro 6.2 +1 more 6.12.0-160000.26.1
- kernel-default-base SLES 16.0, Linux Micro 6.2, SLES for SAP applications 16.0 6.12.0-160000.26.1.160000.2.7
- kernel-syms SLES 16.0, Linux Micro Extras 6.2, SLES for SAP applications 16.0 6.12.0-160000.26.1
suse advisories SUSE-SU-2026:20845-1SUSE-SU-2026:20876-1SUSE-SU-2026:20555-1SUSE-SU-2026:20599-1SUSE-SU-2026:20615-1SUSE-SU-2026:20570-1
- kernel-rt openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.26.1
- dtb-aarch64 openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.26.1
- kernel-64kb openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.26.1
- kernel-syms openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.26.1
- kernel-azure openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.26.1
- kernel-obs-qa openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.26.1
- kernel-source openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.26.1
- kernel-default openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.26.1
opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2026:20287-1
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/69d35c12168f9c59b159ae566f77dfad9f96d7ca commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/4b7210da22429765d19460d38c30eeca72656282 commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/298f1e0694ab4edb6092d66efed93c4554e6ced1 commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/b8a44407bdaf2f0c5505cc7d9fc7d8da90cf9a94 commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/041ab9ca6e80d8f792bb69df28ebf1ef39c06af8 commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/b84f083f50ecc736a95091691339a1b363962f0e commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/0fd16ed6dc331636fb2a874c42d2f7d3156f7ff0 commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/ac1499fcd40fe06479e9b933347b837ccabc2a40 commit
Vendor advisories
What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.
red hat product security vex CVE-2025-68241 updated cvss 4.7
kernel: ipv4: route: Prevent rt_bind_exception() from rebinding stale fnhe
-
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 moreaffected: no fix planned “Out of support scope”
-
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, kernel-core, kernel-tools, +29 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 rv, perf, rtla, kernel, bpftool, libperf, +83 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 kernelaffected: no fix available “Fix deferred”
-
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, python-perf, kernel-kdump, +8 morenot affected: vulnerable code not present
Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf
CISA SSVC
- Exploitation
- none
- Automatable
- no
- Technical impact
- partial
- Assessed
- 4 mo ago
Exploit prediction
0.47% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 40% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).
CVSS scores
| assigned by | version | score | vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| CNA | 3.1 | 7.5 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |
Affected products
- Linux Linux
Classification
- Technology feeds
References
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/69d35c12168f9c59b159ae566f77dfad9f96d7ca
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/4b7210da22429765d19460d38c30eeca72656282
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/298f1e0694ab4edb6092d66efed93c4554e6ced1
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/b8a44407bdaf2f0c5505cc7d9fc7d8da90cf9a94
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/041ab9ca6e80d8f792bb69df28ebf1ef39c06af8
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/b84f083f50ecc736a95091691339a1b363962f0e
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/0fd16ed6dc331636fb2a874c42d2f7d3156f7ff0
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/ac1499fcd40fe06479e9b933347b837ccabc2a40
Sources
- CVE List CVE-2025-68241
- NVD CVE-2025-68241
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