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VulnerabilityPublished Updated

CVE-2025-21676: Linux kernel · net: fec: handle page_pool_dev_alloc_pages error

Affects Linux kernelSource GCVE Database

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Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.5 High.

Data as of 10 Nov 2026, 14:04 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score
7.5High
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

Contested

Scorers differ by 2 or more points
CVSS scores by source
CNA (Linux)CVSS 3.17.5
CISA-ADPCVSS 3.15.5
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 31 Jan 2025

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponized: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  4. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  5. Observed by OffSeq Mirage: no evidence on record.

    No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 10 Nov 2026.

What to do

AI-suggested

A fix has been implemented in the Linux kernel to handle the memory allocation error properly by dropping the current packet instead of crashing. Users should update to the fixed kernel version once available. As a temporary workaround, increasing the /proc/sys/vm/min_free_kbytes value can reduce the likelihood of triggering the issue under memory pressure.

Description

CVE-2025-21676 is a high-severity vulnerability in the Linux kernel's fec network driver. The issue arises because the fec_enet_update_cbd function calls page_pool_dev_alloc_pages but does not properly handle the case when this function returns NULL, leading to a NULL pointer dereference and kernel crash. This can occur under memory pressure conditions. The problem has been addressed by modifying the driver to drop the current packet when memory allocation fails.

References

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