Vulnerability Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: vlan: enforce underlying device type Currently, VLAN devices can be created on top of non-ethernet devices. Besides the fact that it doesn't make much sense, this also causes a bug which leaks the address of a kernel function to usermode. When creating a VLAN device, we initialize GARP (garp_init_applicant) and MRP (mrp_init_applicant) for the underlying device. As part of the initialization process, we add the multicast address of each applicant to the underlying device, by calling dev_mc_add. __dev_mc_add uses dev->addr_len to determine the length of the new multicast address. This causes an out-of-bounds read if dev->addr_len is greater than 6, since the multicast addresses provided by GARP and MRP are only 6 bytes long. This behaviour can be reproduced using the following commands: ip tunnel add gretest mode ip6gre local ::1 remote ::2 dev lo ip l set up dev gretest ip link add link gretest name vlantest type vlan id 100 Then, the following command will display the address of garp_pdu_rcv: ip maddr show | grep 01:80:c2:00:00:21 Fix the bug by enforcing the type of the underlying device during VLAN device initialization.
CVSS Score
HIGH
Affected Products
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux Kernel | >= 2.6.35, < 5.4.291 |
Related Weaknesses (CWE)
References
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0fb7aa04c19eac4417f360a9f7611a60637bdaccPatch
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/30e8aee77899173a82ae5ed89f536c096f20aaebPatch
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3561442599804905c3defca241787cd4546e99a7Patch
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5a515d13e15536e82c5c7c83eb6cf5bc4827fee5Patch
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7f1564b2b2072b7aa1ac75350e9560a07c7a44fdPatch
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b33a534610067ade2bdaf2052900aaad99701353Patch
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b6c72479748b7ea09f53ed64b223cee6463dc278Patch
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fa40ebef69234e39ec2d26930d045f2fb9a8cb2bPatch
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/05/msg00030.html
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/05/msg00045.html
FAQ
What is CVE-2025-21920?
CVE-2025-21920 is a vulnerability with a CVSS score of 7.1 (HIGH). In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: vlan: enforce underlying device type Currently, VLAN devices can be created on top of non-ethernet devices. Besides the fact that...
How severe is CVE-2025-21920?
CVE-2025-21920 has been rated HIGH with a CVSS base score of 7.1/10. Review the CVSS metrics above for detailed severity breakdown.
Is there a patch for CVE-2025-21920?
Check the references section above for vendor advisories and patch information. Affected products include: Linux Linux Kernel.