CVE-2025-46836 | net-tools Stack-based Buffer Overflow vulnerability

net-tools is a collection of programs that form the base set of the NET-3 networking distribution for the Linux operating system. Inn versions up to and including 2.10, the Linux network utilities (like ifconfig) from the net-tools package do not properly validate the structure of /proc files when showing interfaces. `get_name()` in `interface.c` copies interface labels from `/proc/net/dev` into a fixed 16-byte stack buffer without bounds checking, leading to possible arbitrary code execution or crash. The known attack path does not require privilege but also does not provide privilege escalation in this scenario. A patch is available and expected to be part of version 2.20.

Published: 2025-05-14 Last update: 2026-05-12 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Deferred，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2025-46836 is rated Moderate Risk (41.3/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.21%). Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

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-2025-46836

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 2026-05-13 0.11% 0.21% +0.09%
2 2026-03-10 0.05% 0.11% +0.07%
3 2026-02-28 — 0.05% —

Full EPSS history (7 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-46836

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.6 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/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:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 4.7 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-46836

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-46836

vendor priority summary link
alpine medium CVE-2025-46836: 1 source package rows (net-tools); 6 state rows across 6 repos (3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, 3.23-main, edge-main); fixed 0, open 6. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2025-46836
debian not yet assigned CVE-2025-46836 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (net-tools), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-46836
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-46836
suse medium — https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-46836/
ubuntu medium CVE-2025-46836 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (net-tools), 10 status rows across 10 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 7, needs-triage 3. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-46836

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-46836

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
No affected products in dataset.

References for CVE-2025-46836

cvelogic Threat Intelligence