CVE-2025-39894: netfilter: br_netfilter: do not check confirmed bit in br_nf_local_in() after confirm

Severity: medium (CVSS 5.5 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.3% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2025-10-01 · updated 2026-10-19

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netfilter: br_netfilter: do not check confirmed bit in br_nf_local_in() after confirm When send a broadcast packet to a tap device, which was added to a bridge, br_nf_local_in() is called to confirm the conntrack. If another conntrack with the same hash value is added to the hash table, which can be triggered by a normal packet to a non-bridge device, the below warning may happen. ------------[ cut here ]------------ WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 96 at net/bridge/br_netfilter_hooks.c:632 br_nf_local_in+0x168/0x200 CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 96 Comm: tap_send Not tainted 6.17.0-rc2-dirty #44 PREEMPT(voluntary) RIP: 0010:br_nf_local_in+0x168/0x200 Call Trace: <TASK> nf_hook_slow+0x3e/0xf0 br_pass_frame_up+0x103/0x180 br_handle_frame_finish+0x2de/0x5b0 br_nf_hook_thresh+0xc0/0x120 br_nf_pre_routing_finish+0x168/0x3a0 br_nf_pre_routing+0x237/0x5e0 br_handle_frame+0x1ec/0x3c0 __netif_receive_skb_core+0x225/0x1210 __netif_receive_skb_one_core+0x37/0xa0 netif_receive_skb+0x36/0x160 tun_get_user+0xa54/0x10c0 tun_chr_write_iter+0x65/0xb0 vfs_write+0x305/0x410 ksys_write+0x60/0xd0 do_syscall_64+0xa4/0x260 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f </TASK> ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- To solve the hash conflict, nf_ct_resolve_clash() try to merge the conntracks, and update skb->_nfct. However, br_nf_local_in() still use the old ct from local variable 'nfct' after confirm(), which leads to this warning. If confirm() does not insert the conntrack entry and return NF_DROP, the warning may also occur. There is no need to reserve the WARN_ON_ONCE, just remove it.

Affected products

Debian Linux: 11.0
Linux kernel: from 5.15.151 before 5.15.192; from 6.1.81 before 6.1.151; from 6.6.21 before 6.6.105; from 6.7.9 before 6.8; from 6.8.1 before 6.12.46; from 6.13 before 6.16.6 — fixed in 5.15.192, 6.1.151, 6.12.46, 6.16.6, 6.6.105, 6.8

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 5.15.192, 6.1.151, 6.12.46, 6.16.6. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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