CVE-2025-21629 | net: reenable NETIF_F_IPV6_CSUM offload for BIG TCP packets

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: reenable NETIF_F_IPV6_CSUM offload for BIG TCP packets The blamed commit disabled hardware offoad of IPv6 packets with extension headers on devices that advertise NETIF_F_IPV6_CSUM, based on the definition of that feature in skbuff.h: * * - %NETIF_F_IPV6_CSUM * - Driver (device) is only able to checksum plain * TCP or UDP packets over IPv6. These are specifically * unencapsulated packets of the form IPv6|TCP or * IPv6|UDP where the Next Header field in the IPv6 * header is either TCP or UDP. IPv6 extension headers * are not supported with this feature. This feature * cannot be set in features for a device with * NETIF_F_HW_CSUM also set. This feature is being * DEPRECATED (see below). The change causes skb_warn_bad_offload to fire for BIG TCP packets. [ 496.310233] WARNING: CPU: 13 PID: 23472 at net/core/dev.c:3129 skb_warn_bad_offload+0xc4/0xe0 [ 496.310297] ? skb_warn_bad_offload+0xc4/0xe0 [ 496.310300] skb_checksum_help+0x129/0x1f0 [ 496.310303] skb_csum_hwoffload_help+0x150/0x1b0 [ 496.310306] validate_xmit_skb+0x159/0x270 [ 496.310309] validate_xmit_skb_list+0x41/0x70 [ 496.310312] sch_direct_xmit+0x5c/0x250 [ 496.310317] __qdisc_run+0x388/0x620 BIG TCP introduced an IPV6_TLV_JUMBO IPv6 extension header to communicate packet length, as this is an IPv6 jumbogram. But, the feature is only enabled on devices that support BIG TCP TSO. The header is only present for PF_PACKET taps like tcpdump, and not transmitted by physical devices. For this specific case of extension headers that are not transmitted, return to the situation before the blamed commit and support hardware offload. ipv6_has_hopopt_jumbo() tests not only whether this header is present, but also that it is the only extension header before a terminal (L4) header.

Published: 2025-01-15 Last update: 2025-11-03 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-21629 is rated Low Risk (26/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.21%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2025-21629

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.04% 0.21% +0.17%
2 2025-11-21 0.07% 0.04% -0.03%
3 2025-11-18 0.07%

Full EPSS history (6 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-21629

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
1.8 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-21629

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-21629

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2025-21629 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 2 source packages (linux, linux-6.1), 6 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5, open 1. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-21629
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-21629
suse high https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-21629/
ubuntu medium CVE-2025-21629 medium priority: Ubuntu including 158 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1551 status rows across 10 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1145, ignored 147, released 103, not-affected 101, needed 55. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-21629

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-21629

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 4.19.323, < 4.20 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.4.285, < 5.5 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.10.229, < 5.11 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.15.171, < 5.16 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.1.116, < 6.1.124 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.6.60, < 6.6.70 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.11.7, < 6.12 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.12.1, < 6.12.9 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.12 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.12:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.12 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.12:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.12 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.12:rc7:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.13 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.13:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.13 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.13:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.13 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.13:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.13 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.13:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.13 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.13:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2025-21629

cvelogic Threat Intelligence