🛡️ CVE-2025-68241 — kernel

🟠 CVSS 7.5 — High ✅ No Known Exploit NVD
7.5
CVSS Score
0 Low4 Medium7 High9 Critical10

Description

ipv4: route: Prevent rt_bind_exception() from rebinding stale fnhe

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

ipv4: route: Prevent rt_bind_exception() from rebinding stale fnhe

The sit driver's packet transmission path calls: sit_tunnel_xmit() ->

update_or_create_fnhe(), which lead to fnhe_remove_oldest() being called

to delete entries exceeding FNHE_RECLAIM_DEPTH+random.

The race window is between fnhe_remove_oldest() selecting fnheX for

deletion and the subsequent kfree_rcu(). During this time, the

concurrent path's __mkroute_output() -> find_exception() can fetch the

soon-to-be-deleted fnheX, and rt_bind_exception() then binds it with a

new dst using a dst_hold(). When the original fnheX is freed via RCU,

the dst reference remains permanently leaked.

CPU 0 CPU 1

__mkroute_output()

find_exception() [fnheX]

update_or_create_fnhe()

fnhe_remove_oldest() [fnheX]

rt_bind_exception() [bind dst]

RCU callback [fnheX freed, dst leak]

This issue manifests as a device reference count leak and a warning in

dmesg when unregistering the net device:

unregister_netdevice: waiting for sitX to become free. Usage count = N

Ido Schimmel provided the simple test validation method [1].

The fix clears 'oldest->fnhe_daddr' before calling fnhe_flush_routes().

Since rt_bind_exception() checks this field, setting it to zero prevents

the stale fnhe from being reused and bound to a new dst just before it

is freed.

[1]

ip netns add ns1

ip -n ns1 link set dev lo up

ip -n ns1 address add 192.0.2.1/32 dev lo

ip -n ns1 link add name dummy1 up type dummy

ip -n ns1 route add 192.0.2.2/32 dev dummy1

ip -n ns1 link add name gretap1 up arp off type gretap \

local 192.0.2.1 remote 192.0.2.2

ip -n ns1 route add 198.51.0.0/16 dev gretap1

taskset -c 0 ip netns exec ns1 mausezahn gretap1 \

-A 198.51.100.1 -B 198.51.0.0/16 -t udp -p 1000 -c 0 -q &

taskset -c 2 ip netns exec ns1 mausezahn gretap1 \

-A 198.51.100.1 -B 198.51.0.0/16 -t udp -p 1000 -c 0 -q &

sleep 10

ip netns pids ns1 | xargs kill

ip netns del ns1

How this vulnerability can be exploited

This issue can be reached over the network, attack complexity is low, an attacker needs no privileges on the target. No user interaction is required. The scope is unchanged, so the impact stays within the vulnerable component. Rated impact: confidentiality none, integrity none, availability high.

Affected software

CVE-2025-68241 is recorded against 2 packages.

  • kernel (from 6.7.0 up to 6.17.9)
  • unknown

Timeline and source

Published on 16 December 2025 and last revised on 6 August 2026. No public exploit is currently recorded for this entry. Record sourced from NVD.

References

git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
github.com (Advisory)
nvd.nist.gov (Advisory)
git.kernel.org (Package)

CVE-2025-68241 on other distributions

Each distribution ships its own build and its own fixed version. Pick the one you run:

Details

Severity High
CVSS Score 7.5
CVSS Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CWE N/A
Public Exploit ✅ No
Source NVD
Published 2025-12-16
Updated 2026-08-12
Modified 2026-08-06
Fix URL N/A

Affected Packages

Software From version Fixed in
kernel 6.7.0 6.17.9
unknown

References

Similar Threats

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