CVE-2025-68254VulnerabilityPublished 16 Dec 2025Updated 30 Jul 2026

CVE-2025-68254: Linux kernel · staging: rtl8723bs: fix out-of-bounds read in OnBeacon ESR IE parsing The

Source GCVE Database

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.1 High.

Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.1High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 19% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:H

Attack Vector: Adjacent
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: Low
Integrity: None
Availability: High

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Adjacent: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack, but the attack is limited at the protocol level to a logically adjacent topology. This can mean an attack must be launched from the same shared physical (e.g., Bluetooth or IEEE 802.11) or logical (e.g., local IP subnet) network, or from within a secure or otherwise limited administrative domain (e.g., MPLS, secure VPN to an administrative network zone).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: Low: There is some loss of confidentiality. Access to some restricted information is obtained, but the attacker does not have control over what information is obtained, or the amount or kind of loss is limited. The information disclosure does not cause a direct, serious loss to the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: High: There is total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 16 Dec 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: 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 2026-10-25.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

ghsa-ggmq-6856-gj57

What to do

AI-suggested

A fix has been implemented in the Linux kernel to add boundary checks preventing out-of-bounds reads in the rtl8723bs driver during ESR IE parsing. Users should apply the official kernel updates containing this fix once available. Patch status is not explicitly confirmed in the provided data; check the vendor advisory or Linux kernel mailing lists for the official patch and update guidance.

Description

A vulnerability in the Linux kernel's staging rtl8723bs driver was fixed to prevent an out-of-bounds read during parsing of the Extended Supported Rates (ESR) Information Element (IE) in beacon frames. The flaw allowed reading beyond the frame buffer when a malformed beacon placed the ESR IE at the buffer's end, potentially causing a kernel panic. The fix added boundary checks to ensure safe access within the frame limits.

Impact

An attacker could send a malformed beacon frame that triggers an out-of-bounds read in the kernel, potentially causing a denial of service via kernel panic. The confidentiality and integrity impacts are low or none, but availability is highly impacted due to potential system crashes.

Summary

The Linux kernel rtl8723bs staging driver contained a vulnerability (CVE-2025-68254) where the OnBeacon ESR IE parsing accessed memory beyond the received frame buffer without verifying offsets. Specifically, it read *(p + 1 + ielen) and *(p + 2 + ielen) without boundary checks. A malformed beacon frame with an ESR IE at the buffer's end could trigger an out-of-bounds read leading to a kernel panic. The issue was resolved by adding boundary checks to ensure the ESR IE body and subsequent bytes are within the frame limits before access.

References

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