HIGH · CVSS 3.1 7.8Public PoCEPSS 0.62% (p49)Threat level 43

CVE-2025-21692: CVE-2025-21692: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: sched: fix ets q…

linux · linux kernel · NVD published 2025-02-10 · posted 2025-09-13 · last modified 2026-10-15

What it is

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: sched: fix ets qdisc OOB Indexing Haowei Yan <[email protected]> found that ets_class_from_arg() can index an Out-Of-Bound class in ets_class_from_arg() when passed clid of 0. The overflow may cause local privilege escalation. [ 18.852298] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 18.853271] UBSAN: array-index-out-of-bounds in net/sched/sch_ets.c:93:20 [ 18.853743] index 18446744073709551615 is out of range for type 'ets_class [16]' [ 18.854254] CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 1275 Comm: poc Not tainted 6.12.6-dirty #17 [ 18.854821] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.15.0-1 04/01/2014 [ 18.856532] Call Trace: [ 18.857441] <TASK> [ 18.858227] dump_stack_lvl+0xc2/0xf0 [ 18.859607] dump_stack+0x10/0x20 [ 18.860908] __ubsan_handle_out_of_bounds+0xa7/0xf0 [ 18.864022] ets_class_change+0x3d6/0x3f0 [ 18.864322] tc_ctl_tclass+0x251/0x910 [ 18.864587] ? lock_acquire+0x5e/0x140 [ 18.865113] ? __mutex_lock+0x9c/0xe70 [ 18.866009] ? __mutex_lock+0xa34/0xe70 [ 18.866401] rtnetlink_rcv_msg+0x170/0x6f0 [ 18.866806] ? __lock_acquire+0x578/0xc10 [ 18.867184] ? __pfx_rtnetlink_rcv_msg+0x10/0x10 [ 18.867503] netlink_rcv_skb+0x59/0x110 [ 18.867776] rtnetlink_rcv+0x15/0x30 [ 18.868159] netlink_unicast+0x1c3/0x2b0 [ 18.868440] netlink_sendmsg+0x239/0x4b0 [ 18.868721] ____sys_sendmsg+0x3e2/0x410 [ 18.869012] ___sys_sendmsg+0x88/0xe0 [ 18.869276] ? rseq_ip_fixup+0x198/0x260 [ 18.869563] ? rseq_update_cpu_node_id+0x10a/0x190 [ 18.869900] ? trace_hardirqs_off+0x5a/0xd0 [ 18.870196] ? syscall_exit_to_user_mode+0xcc/0x220 [ 18.870547] ? do_syscall_64+0x93/0x150 [ 18.870821] ? __memcg_slab_free_hook+0x69/0x290 [ 18.871157] __sys_sendmsg+0x69/0xd0 [ 18.871416] __x64_sys_sendmsg+0x1d/0x30 [ 18.871699] x64_sys_call+0x9e2/0x2670 [ 18.871979] do_syscall_64+0x87/0x150 [ 18.873280] ? do_syscall_64+0x93/0x150 [ 18.874742] ? lock_release+0x7b/0x160 [ 18.876157] ? do_user_addr_fault+0x5ce/0x8f0 [ 18.877833] ? irqentry_exit_to_user_mode+0xc2/0x210 [ 18.879608] ? irqentry_exit+0x77/0xb0 [ 18.879808] ? clear_bhb_loop+0x15/0x70 [ 18.880023] ? clear_bhb_loop+0x15/0x70 [ 18.880223] ? clear_bhb_loop+0x15/0x70 [ 18.880426] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e [ 18.880683] RIP: 0033:0x44a957 [ 18.880851] Code: ff ff e8 fc 00 00 00 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 66 90 f3 0f 1e fa 64 8b 04 25 18 00 00 00 85 c0 75 10 b8 2e 00 00 00 0f 05 <48> 3d 00 f0 ff ff 77 51 c3 48 83 ec 28 89 54 24 1c 48 8974 24 10 [ 18.881766] RSP: 002b:00007ffcdd00fad8 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 000000000000002e [ 18.882149] RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00007ffcdd010db8 RCX: 000000000044a957 [ 18.882507] RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 00007ffcdd00fb70 RDI: 0000000000000003 [ 18.885037] RBP: 00007ffcdd010bc0 R08: 000000000703c770 R09: 000000000703c7c0 [ 18.887203] R10: 0000000000000080 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 0000000000000001 [ 18.888026] R13: 00007ffcdd010da8 R14: 00000000004ca7d0 R15: 0000000000000001 [ 18.888395] </TASK> [ 18.888610] ---[ end trace ]---

Weakness	CWE-129
CVSS vector	CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H (source: [email protected])
ATT&CK tactics	Privilege Escalation

Exploitation evidence

First exploit evidence seen: 2025-09-13 (earliest date across the sources below).

Exploited in the wild

No source on this site lists in-the-wild exploitation yet (CISA KEV, VulnCheck KEV).

Public exploit code

GitHub proof-of-concept repositories

1 public repositories from 1 accounts, first seen 2025-09-13. Most starred: volticks/CVE-2025-21692-poc (40 stars), view repository.

Verify before running: public PoCs can be malicious. Read the code and only run it in an isolated lab. A PoC means exploit code is public, not that this CVE is exploited in the wild.

Sources: nomi-sec/PoC-in-GitHub.

How to fix it

Fixed versions

linux linux kernel: upgrade to 5.10.234 or later (affected from 5.6)
linux linux kernel: upgrade to 5.15.178 or later (affected from 5.11)
linux linux kernel: upgrade to 6.1.128 or later (affected from 5.16)
linux linux kernel: upgrade to 6.6.75 or later (affected from 6.2)
linux linux kernel: upgrade to 6.12.12 or later (affected from 6.7)

Derived from the NVD CPE configuration (versionEndExcluding / versionEndIncluding). Always confirm with the vendor advisory.

Vendor advisories and patches

MITRE ATT&CK mitigations for this chain

M1051 Update Software (for T1068) : Update software regularly by employing patch management for internal enterprise endpoints and servers.
M1050 Exploit Protection (for T1068) : Security applications that look for behavior used during exploitation such as Windows Defender Exploit Guard (WDEG) and the Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET) can be used to mitigate some exploitation behavior. Control flow integrity checking is another way to potentially identify and stop a software exploi
M1048 Application Isolation and Sandboxing (for T1068) : Make it difficult for adversaries to advance their operation through exploitation of undiscovered or unpatched vulnerabilities by using sandboxing. Other types of virtualization and application microsegmentation may also mitigate the impact of some types of exploitation. Risks of additional exploits and weaknesses in t
M1019 Threat Intelligence Program (for T1068) : Develop a robust cyber threat intelligence capability to determine what types and levels of threat may use software exploits and 0-days against a particular organization.
M1038 Execution Prevention (for T1068) : Consider blocking the execution of known vulnerable drivers that adversaries may exploit to execute code in kernel mode. Validate driver block rules in audit mode to ensure stability prior to production deployment.

Detection Generic guidance

Privilege Escalation: Alert on processes gaining SYSTEM/root unexpectedly, and on exploitation crashes of privileged services.

Response checklist Generic guidance

Inventory: find every instance of the affected product and version (include internet-facing and forgotten ones).
Patch or mitigate per the vendor advisory; if you cannot patch, remove internet exposure or apply the vendor workaround.
Assume compromise if the system was exposed before patching: hunt for the indicators in the advisory and review logs back to the disclosure date.
Rotate credentials and secrets stored on or used by the affected system if compromise cannot be ruled out.