CVE-2025-21678

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: gtp: Destroy device along with udp socket's netns dismantle. gtp_newlink() links the device to a list in dev_net(dev) instead of src_net, where a udp tunnel socket is created. Even when src_net is removed, the device stays alive on dev_net(dev). Then, removing src_net triggers the splat below. [0] In this example, gtp0 is created in ns2, and the udp socket is created in ns1. ip netns add ns1 ip netns add ns2 ip -n ns1 link add netns ns2 name gtp0 type gtp role sgsn ip netns del ns1 Let's link the device to the socket's netns instead. Now, gtp_net_exit_batch_rtnl() needs another netdev iteration to remove all gtp devices in the netns. [0]: ref_tracker: net notrefcnt@000000003d6e7d05 has 1/2 users at sk_alloc (./include/net/net_namespace.h:345 net/core/sock.c:2236) inet_create (net/ipv4/af_inet.c:326 net/ipv4/af_inet.c:252) __sock_create (net/socket.c:1558) udp_sock_create4 (net/ipv4/udp_tunnel_core.c:18) gtp_create_sock (./include/net/udp_tunnel.h:59 drivers/net/gtp.c:1423) gtp_create_sockets (drivers/net/gtp.c:1447) gtp_newlink (drivers/net/gtp.c:1507) rtnl_newlink (net/core/rtnetlink.c:3786 net/core/rtnetlink.c:3897 net/core/rtnetlink.c:4012) rtnetlink_rcv_msg (net/core/rtnetlink.c:6922) netlink_rcv_skb (net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2542) netlink_unicast (net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1321 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1347) netlink_sendmsg (net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1891) ____sys_sendmsg (net/socket.c:711 net/socket.c:726 net/socket.c:2583) ___sys_sendmsg (net/socket.c:2639) __sys_sendmsg (net/socket.c:2669) do_syscall_64 (arch/x86/entry/common.c:52 arch/x86/entry/common.c:83) WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 60 at lib/ref_tracker.c:179 ref_tracker_dir_exit (lib/ref_tracker.c:179) Modules linked in: CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 60 Comm: kworker/u16:2 Not tainted 6.13.0-rc5-00147-g4c1224501e9d #5 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.16.0-0-gd239552ce722-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 Workqueue: netns cleanup_net RIP: 0010:ref_tracker_dir_exit (lib/ref_tracker.c:179) Code: 00 00 00 fc ff df 4d 8b 26 49 bd 00 01 00 00 00 00 ad de 4c 39 f5 0f 85 df 00 00 00 48 8b 74 24 08 48 89 df e8 a5 cc 12 02 90 <0f> 0b 90 48 8d 6b 44 be 04 00 00 00 48 89 ef e8 80 de 67 ff 48 89 RSP: 0018:ff11000009a07b60 EFLAGS: 00010286 RAX: 0000000000002bd3 RBX: ff1100000f4e1aa0 RCX: 1ffffffff0e40ac6 RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: ffffffff8423ee3c RBP: ff1100000f4e1af0 R08: 0000000000000001 R09: fffffbfff0e395ae R10: 0000000000000001 R11: 0000000000036001 R12: ff1100000f4e1af0 R13: dead000000000100 R14: ff1100000f4e1af0 R15: dffffc0000000000 FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ff1100006ce80000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 00007f9b2464bd98 CR3: 0000000005286005 CR4: 0000000000771ef0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe07f0 DR7: 0000000000000400 PKRU: 55555554 Call Trace: <TASK> ? __warn (kernel/panic.c:748) ? ref_tracker_dir_exit (lib/ref_tracker.c:179) ? report_bug (lib/bug.c:201 lib/bug.c:219) ? handle_bug (arch/x86/kernel/traps.c:285) ? exc_invalid_op (arch/x86/kernel/traps.c:309 (discriminator 1)) ? asm_exc_invalid_op (./arch/x86/include/asm/idtentry.h:621) ? _raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore (./arch/x86/include/asm/irqflags.h:42 ./arch/x86/include/asm/irqflags.h:97 ./arch/x86/include/asm/irqflags.h:155 ./include/linux/spinlock_api_smp.h:151 kernel/locking/spinlock.c:194) ? ref_tracker_dir_exit (lib/ref_tracker.c:179) ? __pfx_ref_tracker_dir_exit (lib/ref_tracker.c:158) ? kfree (mm/slub.c:4613 mm/slub.c:4761) net_free (net/core/net_namespace.c:476 net/core/net_namespace.c:467) cleanup_net (net/core/net_namespace.c:664 (discriminator 3)) process_one_work (kernel/workqueue.c:3229) worker_thread (kernel/workqueue.c:3304 kernel/workqueue.c:3391 ---truncated---

• How can I get the fixes?
• What do statuses mean?
• Patch details

References

• MITRE
• NVD
• Launchpad
• Debian

Other references

• https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-21678
• https://git.kernel.org/linus/eb28fd76c0a08a47b470677c6cef9dd1c60e92d1 (6.13)
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/036f8d814a2cd11ee8ef62b8f3e7ce5dec0ee4f3
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5f1678346109ff3a6d229d33437fcba3cce9209d
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/86f73d4ab2f27deeff22ba9336ad103d94f12ac7
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bb11f992f5a475bc68ef959f17a55306f0328495
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c986380c1d5274c4d5e935addc807d6791cc23eb
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/eb28fd76c0a08a47b470677c6cef9dd1c60e92d1
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/efec287cbac92ac6ee8312a89221854760e13b34