HighCVE-2025-21703

    Linux Kernel: security vulnerability (CVE-2025-21703)

    Published Last modified Sources: SUSE, BSI, Debian LTS, Siemens ProductCERT, CVE.org, Msrc Update Guide, EUVD

    What is affected, what to do

    In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netem: Update sch->q.qlen before qdisc_tree_reduce_backlog() qdisc_tree_reduce_backlog() notifies parent qdisc only if child qdisc becomes empty, therefore we need to reduce the backlog of the child qdisc before calling it. Otherwise it would miss the opportunity to call cops->qlen_notify(), in the case of DRR, it resulted in UAF since DRR uses ->qlen_notify() to maintain its active list.

    Update Linux Kernel to version 5.4.291, Linux Kernel to version 5.10.235, Linux Kernel to version 5.15.179.

    Affected
    • Linux Kernel lt 5.4.288..5.4.291
    • Linux Kernel lt 5.10.232..5.10.235
    • Linux Kernel lt 5.15.175..5.15.179
    • Linux Kernel lt 6.1.121..6.1.129
    • Linux Kernel lt 6.6.67..6.6.78
    • Linux Kernel lt 6.12.6..6.12.14
    • Linux Kernel lt 6.13..6.13.3
    Fixed in
    • Linux Kernel 5.4.291
    • Linux Kernel 5.10.235
    • Linux Kernel 5.15.179
    • Linux Kernel 6.1.129
    • Linux Kernel 6.6.78
    • Linux Kernel 6.12.14
    • Linux Kernel 6.13.3
    • Linux Kernel 6.14

    Not sure whether and how you are affected? Ask a question about this vulnerability

    Metrics

    7.8

    Priority

    XIEM Effective CVSS: highest available CVSS rating from NVD and vendor data.

    Source: NVD, CVSS v3

    7.8

    CVSS v3

    Severity High on the scale from 0 to 10.

    Source: SUSE, BSI, Debian LTS, Siemens ProductCERT, CVE.org, Msrc Update Guide, EUVD

    0.3 %

    EPSS score

    Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.

    Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 23.2

    Show all metrics
    Severity
    High
    Priority (0–325)

    The priority score is a consolidated metric that condenses several individual signals into a single, action-guiding ranking: technical severity (CVSS), exploitation likelihood (EPSS), known-exploited status (KEV) and the context of the affected asset. The aim is to answer the only truly important question in vulnerability management: what first?

    Read in glossary
    51.18 Methodology
    Exploit maturity

    An exploit is code or a technique that specifically uses a concrete vulnerability to force unintended behaviour — such as executing code or escalating privileges. It is the tool that turns a theoretical flaw into a practical attack.

    Read in glossary
    no public PoC known
    XIEM Effective CVSS

    XIEM® is the tiered managed-security operating model from NEOSEC and a registered trademark of NEOSEC GmbH. It extends classic SIEM — the central collection, normalisation and correlation of security-relevant events — with endpoint forensics, network visibility and deception technology, and consolidates them into three building tiers: Sentry, Orchestrate and Command.

    Read in glossary
    7.8 Methodology
    CVSS v3

    CVSS is the globally established, open standard for assessing the technical severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10. It describes how easily a flaw can be exploited and what damage it can cause — but not how likely its actual exploitation is. CVSS and the complementary EPSS deliberately answer different questions.

    Read in glossary
    7.8
    EPSS score

    The EPSS score is the absolute model output for an individual vulnerability: the estimated probability of real-world exploitation within the next 30 days, expressed as a value between 0 and 1 (i.e. 0 % to 100 %). A score of 0.42 means „the model estimates a 42 % chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days“.

    Read in glossary
    0.3 %
    Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.
    EPSS percentile

    The EPSS percentile is the relative position of a vulnerability within all EPSS-scored CVEs, expressed as a value between 0 and 1. A percentile of 0.90 means „this CVE has a higher EPSS score than 90 % of all other scored CVEs“. Unlike the EPSS score, it is not a probability — but a positioning within a ranking.

    Read in glossary
    23.2
    Elevated — this CVE ranks above at least 10% of all CVEs scored today.
    KEV status

    The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching.

    Read in glossary
    —
    Published
    CISA assessment (SSVC)
    Exploitation: none known · not automatable · Technical impact: total
    Source: CISA Vulnrichment, as of 18 February 2025
    CWE

    CWE is a catalogue of typical weakness types in software and hardware — such as flawed input validation, unsafe memory handling or poor authentication. Where a CVE names a concrete vulnerability in a concrete product, a CWE describes the underlying class of defect.

    Read in glossary
    CWE-416

    Detection rules

    No NEOSEC detection rule is available for this vulnerability yet.

    Classification under NIS2 and CRA

    Rule-based classification from exploitation status and severity. It does not replace a case-by-case assessment.

    NIS2

    NIS2 is EU Directive (EU) 2022/2555 to raise the level of cybersecurity across the Union. It substantially broadens obligations compared with the first NIS directive: more sectors, mandatory risk management, staged reporting duties and personal accountability of senior management.

    Read in glossary
    High technical severity: assess and remediate the vulnerability in vulnerability handling under Art. 21(2)(e) NIS2 and document the decision.
    CRA

    The CRA is EU Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 setting horizontal cybersecurity requirements for „products with digital elements“ — from industrial controllers and software to connected consumer devices. For the first time manufacturers must ensure security across the entire product lifecycle, handle vulnerabilities and provide security updates.

    Read in glossary
    From 11.12.2027, Annex I Part II CRA requires manufacturers of affected products with digital elements to handle vulnerabilities without delay and provide security updates.
    ISO/IEC 27001

    ISO/IEC 27001 is the internationally leading standard for an information security management system (ISMS). It describes a risk-based, process-oriented framework to systematically plan, implement, review and improve information security.

    Read in glossary
    Control A.8.8, management of technical vulnerabilities: assess relevance to your systems, plan remediation and keep evidence.

    Description

    In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netem: Update sch->q.qlen before qdisc_tree_reduce_backlog() qdisc_tree_reduce_backlog() notifies parent qdisc only if child qdisc becomes empty, therefore we need to reduce the backlog of the child qdisc before calling it. Otherwise it would miss the opportunity to call cops->qlen_notify(), in the case of DRR, it resulted in UAF since DRR uses ->qlen_notify() to maintain its active list.

    Source: suse_csaf, BSI CSAF, BSI WID Portal, Debian LTS Advisories, siemens_advisory, NVD (NIST), Microsoft Security Update Guide, CVE.org (MITRE), ENISA EUVD, cvelistv5

    Affected products

    The following versions are affected. Older releases of the same product line are also vulnerable unless stated otherwise.

    Affected products
    Affected versionsFixed in
    LinuxLinux
    • 5.15.175 – < 5.15.179
    • —
    • 5.4.288 – < 5.4.291
    • 6.1.121 – < 6.1.129
    • 6.6.67 – < 6.6.78
    • 6.12.6 – < 6.12.14
    • 5.10.232 – < 5.10.235
    • 6.13 – < 6.13.3
    • 5.15.179
    • 6.14
    • 5.4.291
    • 6.1.129
    • 6.6.78
    • 6.12.14
    • 5.10.235
    • 6.13.3
    DellSecure Connect Gateway
    • < 5.30.0.14
    • 5.30.0.14
    DellSecure Connect Gateway Appliance
    • < 5.32.00.18
    • 5.32.00.18
    Open SourceLinux Kernel
    • < 6.14-rc2
    • < 6.12.14
    • < 6.13.3
    • 6.14-rc2
    • 6.12.14
    • 6.13.3
    SiemensSIMATIC S7
    • 1500 CPU
    • 1500 TM MFP V1.1.1 GNU/Linux subsystem
    • —
    • —
    SolarWindsSecurity Event Manager
    • < 2025.2.1
    • 2025.2.1

    Vendors and products

    Affected operating systems

    Affected operating systems
    Linuxdebianlinux-6.1bullseye
    Linuxlinuxlinux_kernel6.14
    Linuxlinuxlinux_kernel—

    Weakness classes (CWE)

    • CWE-416Use After Free

      Variant

      The product reuses or references memory after it has been freed. At some point afterward, the memory may be allocated again and saved in another pointer, while the original pointer references a location somewhere within the new allocation. Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory "belongs" to the code that operates on the new pointer.

      Entry at MITRE CWE-416

    References & sources

    Changes to this CVE

    Who changed this CVE and when: NVD (analysis, affected products, CVSS), the CVE publisher (CNA) and additional providers such as CISA (ADP).

    1. Record modifiedLinux

      Show 24 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1f8e3f4a4b8b90ad274dfbc66fc7d55cb582f4d5
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6312555249082d6d8cc5321ff725df05482d8b83
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/638ba5089324796c2ee49af10427459c2de35f71
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7b79ca9a1de6a428d486ff52fb3d602321c08f55
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7f31d74fcc556a9166b1bb20515542de7bb939d1
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/839ecc583fa00fab785fde1c85a326743657fd32
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/98a2c685293aae122f688cde11d9334dddc5d207
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e395fec75ac2dbffc99b4bce57b7f1f3c5449f2c
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1f8e3f4a4b8b90ad274dfbc66fc7d55cb582f4d5
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6312555249082d6d8cc5321ff725df05482d8b83
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/638ba5089324796c2ee49af10427459c2de35f71
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7b79ca9a1de6a428d486ff52fb3d602321c08f55
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7f31d74fcc556a9166b1bb20515542de7bb939d1
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/839ecc583fa00fab785fde1c85a326743657fd32
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/98a2c685293aae122f688cde11d9334dddc5d207
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e395fec75ac2dbffc99b4bce57b7f1f3c5449f2c
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1f8e3f4a4b8b90ad274dfbc66fc7d55cb582f4d5 Types: Patch
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6312555249082d6d8cc5321ff725df05482d8b83 Types: Patch
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/638ba5089324796c2ee49af10427459c2de35f71 Types: Patch
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7b79ca9a1de6a428d486ff52fb3d602321c08f55 Types: Patch
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7f31d74fcc556a9166b1bb20515542de7bb939d1 Types: Patch
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/839ecc583fa00fab785fde1c85a326743657fd32 Types: Patch
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/98a2c685293aae122f688cde11d9334dddc5d207 Types: Patch
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e395fec75ac2dbffc99b4bce57b7f1f3c5449f2c Types: Patch
      —

      Source identifier: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

    2. Record modifiedCVE Program

      Show 2 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/03/msg00028.html
      Referenceremoved
      https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/03/msg00028.html
      —

      Source identifier: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108

    3. Record modifiedSiemens ADP

      Show 3 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Affected versions (publisher)added
      —
      New affected value received. <a href="https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/blob/main/cves/2025/21xxx/CVE-2025-21703.json">CVE-2025-21703</a>
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-503939.html
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-784472.html

      Source identifier: 0b142b55-0307-4c5a-b3c9-f314f3fb7c5e

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