In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: openvswitch: fix lockup on tx to unregistering netdev with carrier Commit in a fixes tag attempted to fix the issue in the following sequence of calls: do_output -> ovs_vport_send -> dev_queue_xmit -> __dev_queue_xmit -> netdev_core_pick_tx -> skb_tx_hash When device is unregistering, the 'dev->real_num_tx_queues' goes to zero and the 'while (unlikely(hash >= qcount))' loop inside the 'skb_tx_hash' becomes infinite, locking up the core forever. But unfortunately, checking just the carrier status is not enough to fix the issue, because some devices may still be in unregistering state while reporting carrier status OK. One example of such device is a net/dummy. It sets carrier ON on start, but it doesn't implement .ndo_stop to set the carrier off. And it makes sense, because dummy doesn't really have a carrier. Therefore, while this device is unregistering, it's still easy to hit the infinite loop in the skb_tx_hash() from the OVS datapath. There might be other drivers that do the same, but dummy by itself is important for the OVS ecosystem, because it is frequently used as a packet sink for tcpdump while debugging OVS deployments. And when the issue is hit, the only way to recover is to reboot. Fix that by also checking if the device is running. The running state is handled by the net core during unregistering, so it covers unregistering case better, and we don't really need to send packets to devices that are not running anyway. While only checking the running state might be enough, the carrier check is preserved. The running and the carrier states seem disjoined throughout the code and different drivers. And other core functions like __dev_direct_xmit() check both before attempting to transmit a packet. So, it seems safer to check both flags in OVS as well.
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-21681 is rated Low Risk (26.4/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.04%). 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.
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 | 2025-11-21 | 0.07% | 0.04% | -0.03% |
| 2 | 2025-11-18 | 0.04% | 0.07% | +0.02% |
| 3 | 2025-02-01 | — | 0.04% | — |
Full EPSS history (3 records total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5.5 | 3.1 | MEDIUM |
|
1.8 | 3.6 | [email protected] |
| vendor | priority | summary | link |
|---|---|---|---|
debian
|
unimportant | CVE-2025-21681 unimportant priority: Debian including 2 source packages (linux, linux-6.1), 6 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 6. | https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-21681 |
redhat
|
medium | — | https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-21681 |
suse
|
medium | CVE-2025-21681 severity moderate: SUSE including 435 source package names (2.1.3-6.11:kernel-default-6.4.0-28.1, 2.1.3-6.12:kernel-default-base-6.4.0-28.1.21.6, …), 820 product×package rows across 144 product lines (Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/base-os-container, Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/kvm-os-container, … (144 product lines)): Fixed 392, Known Affected 231, Known Not Affected 197. | https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-21681/ |
ubuntu
|
medium | CVE-2025-21681 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 148, released 136, not-affected 121, needed 1. | https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-21681 |
| Vendor | Product | Version | Raw CPE |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux | linux_kernel | >= 6.1.25, < 6.1.127 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | >= 6.2.12, < 6.6.74 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | >= 6.7, < 6.12.11 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| 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:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.13 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.13:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.13 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.13:rc7:*:*:*:*:*:* |