HighCVE-2025-21844

    Linux Kernel: NULL Pointer Dereference (CVE-2025-21844)

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

    What is affected, what to do

    In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: smb: client: Add check for next_buffer in receive_encrypted_standard() Add check for the return value of cifs_buf_get() and cifs_small_buf_get() in receive_encrypted_standard() to prevent null pointer dereference.

    Update Linux Kernel to version 5.10.235, Linux Kernel to version 5.15.179, Linux Kernel to version 6.1.130.

    Affected
    • Linux Kernel lt 5.10.211..5.10.235
    • Linux Kernel lt 5.15.150..5.15.179
    • Linux Kernel lt 6.1.69..6.1.130
    • Linux Kernel lt 6.6.8..6.6.80
    • Linux Kernel lt 6.7..6.12.17
    • Linux Kernel lt 6.13..6.13.5
    Fixed in
    • Linux Kernel 5.10.235
    • Linux Kernel 5.15.179
    • Linux Kernel 6.1.130
    • Linux Kernel 6.6.80
    • Linux Kernel 6.12.17
    • Linux Kernel 6.13.5
    • Linux Kernel 6.14

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

    Metrics

    7.5

    Priority

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

    Source: Vendor (CNA), CVSS v3

    7.5

    CVSS v3

    Severity High on the scale from 0 to 10.

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

    0.6 %

    EPSS score

    Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.

    Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 49.6

    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
    65.32 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
    7.5 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
    7.5
    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
    0.6 %
    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
    49.6
    High — this CVE ranks above the median of all CVEs scored today (rank ≥ 36%).
    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: partial
    Source: CISA Vulnrichment, as of 1 October 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-476

    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: smb: client: Add check for next_buffer in receive_encrypted_standard() Add check for the return value of cifs_buf_get() and cifs_small_buf_get() in receive_encrypted_standard() to prevent null pointer dereference.

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

    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
    • 6.7 – < 6.12.17
    • —
    • 5.10.211 – < 5.10.235
    • 6.6.8 – < 6.6.80
    • 5.15.150 – < 5.15.179
    • 6.1.69 – < 6.1.130
    • 6.13 – < 6.13.5
    • 6.12.17
    • 6.14
    • 5.10.235
    • 6.6.80
    • 5.15.179
    • 6.1.130
    • 6.13.5
    DellSecure Connect Gateway
    • < 5.30.0.14
    • 5.30.0.14
    IBMSecurity Verify Access
    • < 10.0.9.2
    • 10.0.9.2
    SiemensSIMATIC S7
    • 1500 TM MFP V1.1.1 GNU/Linux subsystem
    • —

    Vendors and products

    Affected operating systems

    Affected operating systems
    Linuxdebianlinuxbookworm
    Linuxdebianlinuxbullseye
    Linuxdebianlinux-6.1bullseye
    Linuxlinuxlinux_kernel5.10.211
    Linuxlinuxlinux_kernel5.15.150
    Linuxlinuxlinux_kernel6.14
    Linuxlinuxlinux_kernel—

    Weakness classes (CWE)

    • CWE-476NULL Pointer Dereference

      Base

      The product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is NULL.

      Entry at MITRE CWE-476

    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 21 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/24e8e4523d3071bc5143b0db9127d511489f7b3b
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/554736b583f529ee159aa95af9a0cbc12b5ffc96
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/860ca5e50f73c2a1cef7eefc9d39d04e275417f7
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9e5d99a4cf2e23c716b44862975548415fae5391
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a9b0b4b29877cb4dc5d0842b59b5ccbacddb85bd
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f277e479eea3d1aa18bc712abe1d2bf3dece2e30
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f618aeb6cad2307e48a641379db610abcf593edf
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/24e8e4523d3071bc5143b0db9127d511489f7b3b
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/554736b583f529ee159aa95af9a0cbc12b5ffc96
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/860ca5e50f73c2a1cef7eefc9d39d04e275417f7
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9e5d99a4cf2e23c716b44862975548415fae5391
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a9b0b4b29877cb4dc5d0842b59b5ccbacddb85bd
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f277e479eea3d1aa18bc712abe1d2bf3dece2e30
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f618aeb6cad2307e48a641379db610abcf593edf
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/24e8e4523d3071bc5143b0db9127d511489f7b3b Types: Patch
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/554736b583f529ee159aa95af9a0cbc12b5ffc96 Types: Patch
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/860ca5e50f73c2a1cef7eefc9d39d04e275417f7 Types: Patch
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9e5d99a4cf2e23c716b44862975548415fae5391 Types: Patch
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a9b0b4b29877cb4dc5d0842b59b5ccbacddb85bd Types: Patch
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f277e479eea3d1aa18bc712abe1d2bf3dece2e30 Types: Patch
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f618aeb6cad2307e48a641379db610abcf593edf Types: Patch
      —

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

    2. Record modifiedCVE Program

      Show 4 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/05/msg00030.html
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/05/msg00045.html
      Referenceremoved
      https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/05/msg00030.html
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/05/msg00045.html
      —

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

    3. Record modifiedSiemens ADP

      Show 4 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Affected versions (publisher)added
      —
      Affected value modified. <a href="https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/blob/main/cves/2025/21xxx/CVE-2025-21844.json">CVE-2025-21844</a>
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-265688.html
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-784472.html
      Referenceremoved
      https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-265688.html
      —

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

    4. Record modifiedLinux

      CVSS V3.1: AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

      Show the original change
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      CVSSadded
      —
      AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

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

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