CVE-2025-21806 | net: let net.core.dev_weight always be non-zero

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: let net.core.dev_weight always be non-zero The following problem was encountered during stability test: (NULL net_device): NAPI poll function process_backlog+0x0/0x530 \ returned 1, exceeding its budget of 0. ------------[ cut here ]------------ list_add double add: new=ffff88905f746f48, prev=ffff88905f746f48, \ next=ffff88905f746e40. WARNING: CPU: 18 PID: 5462 at lib/list_debug.c:35 \ __list_add_valid_or_report+0xf3/0x130 CPU: 18 UID: 0 PID: 5462 Comm: ping Kdump: loaded Not tainted 6.13.0-rc7+ RIP: 0010:__list_add_valid_or_report+0xf3/0x130 Call Trace: ? __warn+0xcd/0x250 ? __list_add_valid_or_report+0xf3/0x130 enqueue_to_backlog+0x923/0x1070 netif_rx_internal+0x92/0x2b0 __netif_rx+0x15/0x170 loopback_xmit+0x2ef/0x450 dev_hard_start_xmit+0x103/0x490 __dev_queue_xmit+0xeac/0x1950 ip_finish_output2+0x6cc/0x1620 ip_output+0x161/0x270 ip_push_pending_frames+0x155/0x1a0 raw_sendmsg+0xe13/0x1550 __sys_sendto+0x3bf/0x4e0 __x64_sys_sendto+0xdc/0x1b0 do_syscall_64+0x5b/0x170 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e The reproduction command is as follows: sysctl -w net.core.dev_weight=0 ping 127.0.0.1 This is because when the napi's weight is set to 0, process_backlog() may return 0 and clear the NAPI_STATE_SCHED bit of napi->state, causing this napi to be re-polled in net_rx_action() until __do_softirq() times out. Since the NAPI_STATE_SCHED bit has been cleared, napi_schedule_rps() can be retriggered in enqueue_to_backlog(), causing this issue. Making the napi's weight always non-zero solves this problem. Triggering this issue requires system-wide admin (setting is not namespaced).

Published: 2025-02-27 Last update: 2026-05-12 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-21806 is rated Low Risk (25.1/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.19%). 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-2025-21806

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 0.05% 0.19% +0.14%
2 2025-12-28 0.06% 0.05% -0.01%
3 2025-12-27 0.06%

Full EPSS history (6 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-21806

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-2025-21806

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2025-21806

GHSA-mq5p-7q76-276p · Severity: medium — In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: let net.core.dev_weight...

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-21806

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2025-21806 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 6. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-21806
redhat low https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-21806
suse medium https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-21806/
ubuntu medium CVE-2025-21806 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, released 190, ignored 152, not-affected 43, needed 21. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-21806

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-21806

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 2.6.13, < 5.4.291 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.5, < 5.10.235 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.11, < 5.15.179 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.16, < 6.1.129 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.2, < 6.6.76 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.7, < 6.12.13 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.13, < 6.13.2 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 2.6.12 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:2.6.12:-:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2025-21806

URL Tags
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0e2f1d93d287d544d26f8ff293ea820a8079b9f8 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1489824e5226a26841c70639ebd2d1aed390764b Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/33e2168788f8fb5cb8bd4f36cb1ef37d1d34dada Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5860abbf15eeb61838b5e32e721ba67b0aa84450 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6ce38b5a6a49e65bad163162a54cb3f104c40b48 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c337c08819a4ec49edfdcd8fc46fbee120d8a5b2 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d0e0f9c8218826926d7692980c98236d9f21fd3c Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d1f9f79fa2af8e3b45cffdeef66e05833480148a Patch
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/03/msg00028.html
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/05/msg00030.html
https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-265688.html
https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-503939.html
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