CVE-2025-21659: netdev: prevent accessing NAPI instances from another namespace

Severity: medium (CVSS 5.5 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2025-01-21 · updated 2026-07-30

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netdev: prevent accessing NAPI instances from another namespace The NAPI IDs were not fully exposed to user space prior to the netlink API, so they were never namespaced. The netlink API must ensure that at the very least NAPI instance belongs to the same netns as the owner of the genl sock. napi_by_id() can become static now, but it needs to move because of dev_get_by_napi_id().

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 6.8 before 6.12.10; 6.13-rc1, 6.13-rc2, 6.13-rc3, 6.13-rc4, 6.13-rc5, 6.13-rc6 — fixed in 6.12.10

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 6.12.10. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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