In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: netpoll: fix incorrect refcount handling causing incorrect cleanup commit efa95b01da18 ("netpoll: fix use after free") incorrectly ignored the refcount and prematurely set dev->npinfo to NULL during netpoll cleanup, leading to improper behavior and memory leaks. Scenario causing lack of proper cleanup: 1) A netpoll is associated with a NIC (e.g., eth0) and netdev->npinfo is allocated, and refcnt = 1 - Keep in mind that npinfo is shared among all netpoll instances. In this case, there is just one. 2) Another netpoll is also associated with the same NIC and npinfo->refcnt += 1. - Now dev->npinfo->refcnt = 2; - There is just one npinfo associated to the netdev. 3) When the first netpolls goes to clean up: - The first cleanup succeeds and clears np->dev->npinfo, ignoring refcnt. - It basically calls `RCU_INIT_POINTER(np->dev->npinfo, NULL);` - Set dev->npinfo = NULL, without proper cleanup - No ->ndo_netpoll_cleanup() is either called 4) Now the second target tries to clean up - The second cleanup fails because np->dev->npinfo is already NULL. * In this case, ops->ndo_netpoll_cleanup() was never called, and the skb pool is not cleaned as well (for the second netpoll instance) - This leaks npinfo and skbpool skbs, which is clearly reported by kmemleak. Revert commit efa95b01da18 ("netpoll: fix use after free") and adds clarifying comments emphasizing that npinfo cleanup should only happen once the refcount reaches zero, ensuring stable and correct netpoll behavior.
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-68245 is rated Low Risk (18.1/100): low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.06%). Mandatory action: Low composite risk—no urgent action required; patch on your normal maintenance cycle and revisit priority if CVSS or EPSS increases.
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 | 2026-05-26 | 0.04% | 0.06% | +0.01% |
| 2 | 2026-05-14 | 0.06% | 0.04% | -0.02% |
| 3 | 2026-01-18 | — | 0.06% | — |
Full EPSS history (4 records total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
No CVSS data in dataset for this CVE.
| vendor | priority | summary | link |
|---|---|---|---|
debian
|
not yet assigned | CVE-2025-68245 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-2025-68245 |
redhat
|
medium | — | https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-68245 |
suse
|
medium | CVE-2025-68245 severity moderate: SUSE including 390 source package names (13.2-9.1:libsqlite3-0-3.49.1-1.1, 2.1.3-6.115:kernel-default-base-6.4.0-39.1.21.16, …), 594 product×package rows across 71 product lines (Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/baremetal-os-container, Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/base-os-container, … (71 product lines)): Fixed 332, Known Affected 231, First Fixed 25, Known Not Affected 6. | https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-68245/ |
ubuntu
|
medium | CVE-2025-68245 medium priority: Ubuntu including 157 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1405 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1010, ignored 181, released 157, needed 49, not-affected 5, pending 3. | https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-68245 |
| Vendor | Product | Version | Raw CPE |
|---|---|---|---|
| No affected products in dataset. | |||