CVE-2025-21958: Linux kernel · Revert "openvswitch: switch to per-action label counting in conntrack
Source GCVE Database
Not known to be exploited · CVSS 4.7 Medium.
Data as of 29 Oct 2026, 23:34 UTC
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:HExploitation evidence
Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 1 Apr 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
The issue has been mitigated by reverting the commit that introduced the problematic per-action label counting in conntrack. Users should ensure they are running a Linux kernel version that includes this revert. No additional actions are currently recommended until a more comprehensive fix is developed.
Description
CVE-2025-21958 is a medium-severity vulnerability in the Linux kernel related to the Open vSwitch (OVS) conntrack label counting mechanism. The issue arises when the conntrack entry lacks the labels_ext extension, causing a warning due to improper label allocation. This problem became more likely after a commit that switched to per-action label counting. The vulnerability was addressed by reverting the problematic commit to avoid breaking existing use cases.
References
- nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-21958 (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/1063ae07383c0ddc5bcce170260c143825846b03 (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/9e79fdabd52cfce1a021640a81256878a2c516a2 (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/d91bfc64a4886102746e74d2c6f3a61e9a77fd7d (opens in a new tab)