MEDIUM · 5.5

CVE-2025-21646

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: afs: Fix the maximum cell name length The kafs filesystem limits the maximum length of a cell to 256 bytes, but a problem occurs i...

Vulnerability Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: afs: Fix the maximum cell name length The kafs filesystem limits the maximum length of a cell to 256 bytes, but a problem occurs if someone actually does that: kafs tries to create a directory under /proc/net/afs/ with the name of the cell, but that fails with a warning: WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 9 at fs/proc/generic.c:405 because procfs limits the maximum filename length to 255. However, the DNS limits the maximum lookup length and, by extension, the maximum cell name, to 255 less two (length count and trailing NUL). Fix this by limiting the maximum acceptable cellname length to 253. This also allows us to be sure we can create the "/afs/.<cell>/" mountpoint too. Further, split the YFS VL record cell name maximum to be the 256 allowed by the protocol and ignore the record retrieved by YFSVL.GetCellName if it exceeds 253.

CVSS Score

5.5

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Attack Vector
LOCAL
Attack Complexity
LOW
Privileges Required
LOW
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
NONE
Integrity
NONE
Availability
HIGH

Affected Products

VendorProductVersions
LinuxLinux Kernel>= 5.8, < 5.10.234

References

FAQ

What is CVE-2025-21646?

CVE-2025-21646 is a vulnerability with a CVSS score of 5.5 (MEDIUM). In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: afs: Fix the maximum cell name length The kafs filesystem limits the maximum length of a cell to 256 bytes, but a problem occurs i...

How severe is CVE-2025-21646?

CVE-2025-21646 has been rated MEDIUM with a CVSS base score of 5.5/10. Review the CVSS metrics above for detailed severity breakdown.

Is there a patch for CVE-2025-21646?

Check the references section above for vendor advisories and patch information. Affected products include: Linux Linux Kernel.