CVE-2025-21689: Linux kernel · USB: serial: quatech2: fix null-ptr-deref in qt2_process_read_urb()
Source GCVE Database
Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.5 Medium.
Data as of 30 Oct 2026, 01:11 UTC
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:HExploitation evidence
Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 10 Feb 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by 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 29 Oct 2026.
What to do
AI-suggested
A fix for this vulnerability has been implemented in the Linux kernel by correcting the bounds check in qt2_process_read_urb(). Users should apply the official kernel updates that include this patch to remediate the issue. Since this is a kernel-level vulnerability, updating to a fixed kernel version is the recommended mitigation.
Description
CVE-2025-21689 is a medium-severity vulnerability in the Linux kernel's USB serial driver for Quatech devices. It involves a null pointer dereference caused by an incorrect bounds check in the qt2_process_read_urb() function. The flaw occurs because the code allows an out-of-bounds index equal to serial->num_ports, leading to a NULL pointer dereference. The issue has been fixed by correcting the bounds check to ensure the index is strictly less than serial->num_ports.
References
- nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-21689 (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/4b9b41fabcd38990f69ef0cee9c631d954a2b530 (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/575a5adf48b06a2980c9eeffedf699ed5534fade (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/6068dcff7f19e9fa6fa23ee03453ad6a40fa4efe (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/6377838560c03b36e1153a42ef727533def9b68f (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/8542b33622571f54dfc2a267fce378b6e3840b8b (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/94770cf7c5124f0268d481886829dc2beecc4507 (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/f371471708c7d997f763b0e70565026eb67cc470 (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/fa4c7472469d97c4707698b4c0e098f8cfc2bf22 (opens in a new tab)
- lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/03/msg00001.html (opens in a new tab)
- lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/03/msg00002.html (opens in a new tab)