Linux Kernel up to 6.12.60/6.17.10 napi_complete_done uninitialized pointer

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability identified as critical has been detected in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.60/6.17.10. Affected by this vulnerability is the function napi_complete_done. This manipulation causes uninitialized pointer. This vulnerability appears as CVE-2025-68341. There is no available exploit. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.60/6.17.10. Affected by this vulnerability is the function napi_complete_done. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a uninitialized pointer vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-824. The product accesses or uses a pointer that has not been initialized. The impact remains unknown. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: veth: reduce XDP no_direct return section to fix race As explain in commit fa349e396e48 ("veth: Fix race with AF_XDP exposing old or uninitialized descriptors") for veth there is a chance after napi_complete_done() that another CPU can manage start another NAPI instance running veth_pool(). For NAPI this is correctly handled as the napi_schedule_prep() check will prevent multiple instances from getting scheduled, but for the remaining code in veth_pool() this can run concurrent with the newly started NAPI instance. The problem/race is that xdp_clear_return_frame_no_direct() isn't designed to be nested. Prior to commit 401cb7dae813 ("net: Reference bpf_redirect_info via task_struct on PREEMPT_RT.") the temporary BPF net context bpf_redirect_info was stored per CPU, where this wasn't an issue. Since this commit the BPF context is stored in 'current' task_struct. When running veth in threaded-NAPI mode, then the kthread becomes the storage area. Now a race exists between two concurrent veth_pool() function calls one exiting NAPI and one running new NAPI, both using the same BPF net context. Race is when another CPU gets within the xdp_set_return_frame_no_direct() section before exiting veth_pool() calls the clear-function xdp_clear_return_frame_no_direct().

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2025-68341 since 12/16/2025. The exploitation appears to be difficult. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 01/04/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 279639 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2025-68341), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.12.61 or 6.17.11 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch c1ceabcb347d1b0f7e70a7384ec7eff3847b7628/d0bd018ad72a8a598ae709588934135017f8af52/a14602fcae17a3f1cb8a8521bedf31728f9e7e39 is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (279639), EUVD (EUVD-2025-204801) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2915). Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Affected

• Open Source Linux Kernel

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.12.0
• 6.12.1
• 6.12.2
• 6.12.3
• 6.12.4
• 6.12.5
• 6.12.6
• 6.12.7
• 6.12.8
• 6.12.9
• 6.12.10
• 6.12.11
• 6.12.12
• 6.12.13
• 6.12.14
• 6.12.15
• 6.12.16
• 6.12.17
• 6.12.18
• 6.12.19
• 6.12.20
• 6.12.21
• 6.12.22
• 6.12.23
• 6.12.24
• 6.12.25
• 6.12.26
• 6.12.27
• 6.12.28
• 6.12.29
• 6.12.30
• 6.12.31
• 6.12.32
• 6.12.33
• 6.12.34
• 6.12.35
• 6.12.36
• 6.12.37
• 6.12.38
• 6.12.39
• 6.12.40
• 6.12.41
• 6.12.42
• 6.12.43
• 6.12.44
• 6.12.45
• 6.12.46
• 6.12.47
• 6.12.48
• 6.12.49
• 6.12.50
• 6.12.51
• 6.12.52
• 6.12.53
• 6.12.54
• 6.12.55
• 6.12.56
• 6.12.57
• 6.12.58
• 6.12.59
• 6.12.60
• 6.17.0
• 6.17.1
• 6.17.2
• 6.17.3
• 6.17.4
• 6.17.5
• 6.17.6
• 6.17.7
• 6.17.8
• 6.17.9
• 6.17.10

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Entryinfo

Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

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