CVE-2025-68245 | net: netpoll: fix incorrect refcount handling causing incorrect cleanup

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.

Published: 2025-12-16 Last update: 2026-04-15 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

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.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2025-68245

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)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-68245

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

No CVSS data in dataset for this CVE.

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-68245

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-68245

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

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-68245

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
No affected products in dataset.

References for CVE-2025-68245

cvelogic Threat Intelligence