CVE-2025-21682eth: bnxt: always recalculate features after XDP clearing, fix null-deref
- 7.3HighCVSS base score
- 0.23%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 86% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- NonePublic exploitsnone known yet
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: eth: bnxt: always recalculate features after XDP clearing, fix null-deref Recalculate features when XDP is detached. Before: # ip li set dev eth0 xdp obj xdp_dummy.bpf.o sec xdp # ip li set dev eth0 xdp off # ethtool -k eth0 | grep gro rx-gro-hw: off [requested on] After: # ip li set dev eth0 xdp obj xdp_dummy.bpf.o sec xdp # ip li set dev eth0 xdp off # ethtool -k eth0 | grep gro rx-gro-hw: on The fact that HW-GRO doesn't get re-enabled automatically is just a minor annoyance. The real issue is that the features will randomly come back during another reconfiguration which just happens to invoke netdev_update_features(). The driver doesn't handle reconfiguring two things at a time very robustly. Starting with commit 98ba1d931f61 ("bnxt_en: Fix RSS logic in __bnxt_reserve_rings()") we only reconfigure the RSS hash table if the "effective" number of Rx rings has changed. If HW-GRO is enabled "effective" number of rings is 2x what user sees. So if we are in the bad state, with HW-GRO re-enablement "pending" after XDP off, and we lower the rings by / 2 - the HW-GRO rings doing 2x and the ethtool -L doing / 2 may cancel each other out, and the: if (old_rx_rings != bp->hw_resc.resv_rx_rings && condition in __bnxt_reserve_rings() will be false. The RSS map won't get updated, and we'll crash with: BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000168 RIP: 0010:__bnxt_hwrm_vnic_set_rss+0x13a/0x1a0 bnxt_hwrm_vnic_rss_cfg_p5+0x47/0x180 __bnxt_setup_vnic_p5+0x58/0x110 bnxt_init_nic+0xb72/0xf50 __bnxt_open_nic+0x40d/0xab0 bnxt_open_nic+0x2b/0x60 ethtool_set_channels+0x18c/0x1d0 As we try to access a freed ring. The issue is present since XDP support was added, really, but prior to commit 98ba1d931f61 ("bnxt_en: Fix RSS logic in __bnxt_reserve_rings()") it wasn't causing major issues.
Timeline
ID reserved
By Linux
- 33 days later
· 33 days later
Published
- 22 months later
· 22 months later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| LinuxCNA (assigner) | 3.1 | High7.3 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:H |
| CISA-ADPADP (enrichment) | 3.1 | Medium5.5 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Modified | 3.1 | Medium5.5 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.23% · top 86% of all CVEs (15 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: none · Automatable: no · Technical impact: partial
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 7.3.
Affected products
- affected 1054aee82321483dceabbb9b9e5d6512e8fe684b – < 076a694a42ae3f0466bc6e4126050eeb7b7d299a
- affected 1054aee82321483dceabbb9b9e5d6512e8fe684b – < 90336fc3d6f5e716ac39a9ddbbde453e23a5aa65
- affected 1054aee82321483dceabbb9b9e5d6512e8fe684b – < 08831a894d18abfaabb5bbde7c2069a7fb41dd93
- affected 1054aee82321483dceabbb9b9e5d6512e8fe684b – < f0aa6a37a3dbb40b272df5fc6db93c114688adcd
- affected 4.16
- unaffected < 4.16
- unaffected 6.1.167 – ≤ 6.1.*
- unaffected 6.6.130 – ≤ 6.6.*
- unaffected 6.12.11 – ≤ 6.12.*
- unaffected 6.13 – ≤ *
References
References8
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/076a694a42ae3f0466bc6e4126050eeb7b7d299a (opens in a new tab)
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/90336fc3d6f5e716ac39a9ddbbde453e23a5aa65 (opens in a new tab)
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/08831a894d18abfaabb5bbde7c2069a7fb41dd93 (opens in a new tab)
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f0aa6a37a3dbb40b272df5fc6db93c114688adcd (opens in a new tab)
- https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-082556.html (opens in a new tab)
- https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-019113.html (opens in a new tab)
- https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-457936.html (opens in a new tab)
- https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-784472.html (opens in a new tab)
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2025-2631 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2025-21682)Record last updated .