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High · 7.8 CVE-2025-21792 EUVD-2025-5128GHSA-pw8p-q2m4-9ch4

ax25: Fix refcount leak caused by setting SO_BINDTODEVICE sockopt

Published Feb 27, 2025 · Updated Aug 5, 2026 · Assigned by Linux

Vendor: Linux Product: Linux Package: kernel Package: linux Package: linux Package: linux-allwinner-5.19 Package: linux-aws Package: linux-aws-5.0 Package: linux-aws-5.11 Package: linux-aws-5.13 Package: linux-aws-5.15 Package: linux-aws-5.19 Package: linux-aws-5.3 Package: linux-aws-5.4 Package: linux-aws-5.8 Package: linux-aws-6.2 Package: linux-aws-6.5 Package: linux-aws-6.8 Package: linux-aws-fips Package: linux-aws-hwe Package: linux-azure Package: linux-azure-4.15 Package: linux-azure-5.11 Package: linux-azure-5.13 Package: linux-azure-5.15 Package: linux-azure-5.19 Package: linux-azure-5.3 Package: linux-azure-5.4 Package: linux-azure-5.8 Package: linux-azure-6.11 Package: linux-azure-6.2 Package: linux-azure-6.5 Package: linux-azure-6.8 Package: linux-azure-edge Package: linux-azure-fde Package: linux-azure-fde-5.15 Package: linux-azure-fde-5.19 Package: linux-azure-fde-6.2 Package: linux-azure-fips Package: linux-azure-nvidia Package: linux-bluefield Package: linux-fips Package: linux-gcp Package: linux-gcp-4.15 Package: linux-gcp-5.11 Package: linux-gcp-5.13 Package: linux-gcp-5.15 Package: linux-gcp-5.19 Package: linux-gcp-5.3 Package: linux-gcp-5.4 Package: linux-gcp-5.8 Package: linux-gcp-6.11 Package: linux-gcp-6.2 Package: linux-gcp-6.5 Package: linux-gcp-6.8 Package: linux-gcp-fips Package: linux-gke Package: linux-gke-4.15 Package: linux-gke-5.15 Package: linux-gke-5.4 Package: linux-gkeop Package: linux-gkeop-5.15 Package: linux-gkeop-5.4 Package: linux-hwe Package: linux-hwe-5.11 Package: linux-hwe-5.13 Package: linux-hwe-5.15 Package: linux-hwe-5.19 Package: linux-hwe-5.4 Package: linux-hwe-5.8 Package: linux-hwe-6.11 Package: linux-hwe-6.2 Package: linux-hwe-6.5 Package: linux-hwe-6.8 Package: linux-hwe-edge Package: linux-ibm Package: linux-ibm-5.15 Package: linux-ibm-5.4 Package: linux-ibm-6.8 Package: linux-intel Package: linux-intel-5.13 Package: linux-intel-iot-realtime Package: linux-intel-iotg Package: linux-intel-iotg-5.15 Package: linux-iot Package: linux-kvm Package: linux-lowlatency Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.15 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.11 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.8 Package: linux-lts-xenial Package: linux-nvidia Package: linux-nvidia-6.11 Package: linux-nvidia-6.2 Package: linux-nvidia-6.5 Package: linux-nvidia-6.8 Package: linux-nvidia-lowlatency Package: linux-nvidia-tegra Package: linux-nvidia-tegra-5.15 Package: linux-nvidia-tegra-igx Package: linux-oem Package: linux-oem-5.10 Package: linux-oem-5.13 Package: linux-oem-5.14 Package: linux-oem-5.17 Package: linux-oem-5.6 Package: linux-oem-6.0 Package: linux-oem-6.1 Package: linux-oem-6.11 Package: linux-oem-6.5 Package: linux-oem-6.8 Package: linux-oracle Package: linux-oracle-5.0 Package: linux-oracle-5.11 Package: linux-oracle-5.13 Package: linux-oracle-5.15 Package: linux-oracle-5.3 Package: linux-oracle-5.4 Package: linux-oracle-5.8 Package: linux-oracle-6.5 Package: linux-oracle-6.8 Package: linux-raspi Package: linux-raspi-5.4 Package: linux-raspi-realtime Package: linux-raspi2 Package: linux-realtime Package: linux-realtime-6.8 Package: linux-riscv Package: linux-riscv-5.11 Package: linux-riscv-5.15 Package: linux-riscv-5.19 Package: linux-riscv-5.8 Package: linux-riscv-6.5 Package: linux-riscv-6.8 Package: linux-starfive-5.19 Package: linux-starfive-6.2 Package: linux-starfive-6.5 Package: linux-vmware Package: linux-xilinx Package: linux-xilinx-zynqmp Platform: Linux Ecosystem: Azure Linux Ecosystem: Debian Ecosystem: Ubuntu

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

ax25: Fix refcount leak caused by setting SO_BINDTODEVICE sockopt

If an AX25 device is bound to a socket by setting the SO_BINDTODEVICE
socket option, a refcount leak will occur in ax25_release().

Commit 9fd75b66b8f6 ("ax25: Fix refcount leaks caused by ax25_cb_del()")
added decrement of device refcounts in ax25_release(). In order for that
to work correctly the refcounts must already be incremented when the
device is bound to the socket. An AX25 device can be bound to a socket
by either calling ax25_bind() or setting SO_BINDTODEVICE socket option.
In both cases the refcounts should be incremented, but in fact it is done
only in ax25_bind().

This bug leads to the following issue reported by Syzkaller:

================================================================
refcount_t: decrement hit 0; leaking memory.
WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 5932 at lib/refcount.c:31 refcount_warn_saturate+0x1ed/0x210 lib/refcount.c:31
Modules linked in:
CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 5932 Comm: syz-executor424 Not tainted 6.13.0-rc4-syzkaller-00110-g4099a71718b0 #0
Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 1.16.3-debian-1.16.3-2~bpo12+1 04/01/2014
RIP: 0010:refcount_warn_saturate+0x1ed/0x210 lib/refcount.c:31
Call Trace:
<TASK>
__refcount_dec include/linux/refcount.h:336 [inline]
refcount_dec include/linux/refcount.h:351 [inline]
ref_tracker_free+0x710/0x820 lib/ref_tracker.c:236
netdev_tracker_free include/linux/netdevice.h:4156 [inline]
netdev_put include/linux/netdevice.h:4173 [inline]
netdev_put include/linux/netdevice.h:4169 [inline]
ax25_release+0x33f/0xa10 net/ax25/af_ax25.c:1069
__sock_release+0xb0/0x270 net/socket.c:640
sock_close+0x1c/0x30 net/socket.c:1408
...
do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:52 [inline]
do_syscall_64+0xcd/0x250 arch/x86/entry/common.c:83
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f
...
</TASK>
================================================================

Fix the implementation of ax25_setsockopt() by adding increment of
refcounts for the new device bound, and decrement of refcounts for
the old unbound device.

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
Linux Linux 4.14.277 – < 4.15, 4.19.240 – < 4.20, 5.4.190 – < 5.5, 5.10.112 – < 5.11, 5.15.35 – < 5.16, 5.17.2 – < 5.18, 5.18 4.15

Fixed in Linux distributions

Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian 14 linux 6.12.16-1 —
Debian 13 linux 6.12.16-1 —
Debian 12 linux 6.1.129-1 —
Debian 11 linux-6.1 6.1.129-1~deb11u1 DLA-4102-1
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu Nvidia-BlueField 22.04 LTS linux-bluefield No fix yet —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux 6.8.0-78.78 USN-7703-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-aws 6.8.0-1035.37 USN-7703-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-azure 6.8.0-1034.39 USN-7737-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-azure-nvidia 6.8.0-1022.23 USN-7737-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-gcp 6.8.0-1036.38 USN-7703-2
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-gcp-6.11 +1 6.11.0-1015.15~24.04.1 USN-7521-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-gke 6.8.0-1032.36 USN-7703-4
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-gkeop 6.8.0-1019.21 USN-7703-2
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-hwe-6.11 6.11.0-26.26~24.04.1 USN-7521-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-ibm 6.8.0-1033.33 USN-7703-2
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-intel +4 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-lowlatency 6.8.0-78.78.1 USN-7703-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.11 6.11.0-1014.15~24.04.1 USN-7521-3
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-nvidia 6.8.0-1035.38 USN-7703-4
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-nvidia-6.11 6.11.0-1010.10 —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-nvidia-lowlatency 6.8.0-1035.38.1 USN-7703-4
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-nvidia-tegra 6.8.0-1009.9 —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-oem-6.11 6.11.0-1022.22 USN-7521-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-oracle 6.8.0-1032.33 USN-7703-3
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-raspi 6.8.0-1035.39 USN-7703-4
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-xilinx 6.8.0-1017.18 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux +49 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-aws-6.8 6.8.0-1035.37~22.04.1 USN-7703-2
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-azure-6.8 6.8.0-1034.39~22.04.1 USN-7737-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-gcp-6.8 6.8.0-1036.38~22.04.1 USN-7703-2
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-hwe-6.8 +1 6.8.0-78.78~22.04.1 USN-7703-4
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-ibm-6.8 6.8.0-1033.33~22.04.1 USN-7703-2
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.8 6.8.0-78.78.1~22.04.1 USN-7703-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-nvidia-6.8 6.8.0-1035.38~22.04.1 USN-7703-4
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-oracle-6.8 6.8.0-1032.33~22.04.1 USN-7703-3
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-gke +28 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS linux-gcp +14 No fix yet —
Show 13 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS linux-hwe-edge No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro Realtime 24.04 LTS linux-raspi-realtime 6.8.0-2028.29 USN-7719-1
Ubuntu Pro Realtime 24.04 LTS linux-realtime 6.8.1-1030.31 USN-7703-1
Ubuntu Pro Realtime 22.04 LTS linux-realtime +1 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro Realtime 22.04 LTS linux-realtime-6.8 6.8.1-1030.31~22.04.1 —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 24.04 LTS linux-fips 6.8.0-78.78+fips1 —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 22.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 20.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 18.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 16.04 LTS linux-fips No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-preview 22.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS linux +21 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS linux +12 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS linux +7 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 14.04 LTS linux-aws +2 No fix yet —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
SLES 15 SP7 kernel-64kb +6 6.4.0-150700.53.3.1 SUSE-SU-2025:01951-1
SLES 15 SP7 kernel-azure +2 6.4.0-150700.20.3.1 SUSE-SU-2025:01967-1
SLES 15 SP7 kernel-default-base 6.4.0-150700.53.3.1.150700.17.2.1 SUSE-SU-2025:01951-1
SLES 15 SP6 kernel-64kb +6 6.4.0-150600.23.50.1 SUSE-SU-2025:01614-1
SLES 15 SP6 kernel-azure +2 6.4.0-150600.8.37.1 SUSE-SU-2025:01707-1
SLES 15 SP6 kernel-coco +3 6.4.0-15061.21.coco15sp6.1 SUSE-SU-2025:01919-1
SLES 15 SP6 kernel-default-base 6.4.0-150600.23.50.1.150600.12.22.1 SUSE-SU-2025:01614-1
Show 6 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
SLE Micro 6.1 kernel-default-base 6.4.0-29.1.21.7 SUSE-SU-2025:20354-1
SLE Micro 6.1 kernel-livepatch-MICRO-6-0_Update_7 +1 1-1.2 SUSE-SU-2025:20355-1, SUSE-SU-2025:20354-1
SLE Micro 6.1 kernel-rt +1 6.4.0-31.1 SUSE-SU-2025:20355-1
SLE Micro 6.1 kernel-source +2 6.4.0-29.1 SUSE-SU-2025:20354-1
SLE Micro 6.0 kernel-default-base 6.4.0-29.1.21.7 SUSE-SU-2025:20343-1
SLE Micro 6.0 kernel-livepatch-MICRO-6-0_Update_7 +1 1-1.2 SUSE-SU-2025:20344-1, SUSE-SU-2025:20343-1
SLE Micro 6.0 kernel-rt +1 6.4.0-31.1 SUSE-SU-2025:20344-1
SLE Micro 6.0 kernel-source +2 6.4.0-29.1 SUSE-SU-2025:20343-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP7 kernel-default 6.4.0-150700.53.3.1 SUSE-SU-2025:01951-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP7 kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP7-RT_Update_1 1-150700.1.3.1 SUSE-SU-2025:01972-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP7 kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP7_Update_1 1-150700.15.3.1 SUSE-SU-2025:01951-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP6 kernel-default 6.4.0-150600.23.50.1 SUSE-SU-2025:01614-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP6 kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP6-RT_Update_11 1-150600.1.3.2 SUSE-SU-2025:01964-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP6 kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP6_Update_11 1-150600.13.3.1 SUSE-SU-2025:01614-1
SUSE Real Time Module 15 SP7 kernel-rt +3 6.4.0-150700.7.3.1 SUSE-SU-2025:01972-1
SUSE Real Time Module 15 SP6 kernel-rt +3 6.4.0-150600.10.39.1 SUSE-SU-2025:01964-1
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
openSUSE Leap 15.6 dtb-aarch64 +10 6.4.0-150600.23.50.1 SUSE-SU-2025:01614-1
openSUSE Leap 15.6 kernel-azure +2 6.4.0-150600.8.37.1 SUSE-SU-2025:01707-1
openSUSE Leap 15.6 kernel-default-base 6.4.0-150600.23.50.1.150600.12.22.1 SUSE-SU-2025:01614-1
openSUSE Leap 15.6 kernel-rt +3 6.4.0-150600.10.39.1 SUSE-SU-2025:01964-1

Azure Linux

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Azure Linux 3 kernel 6.6.79.1-1 —
Azure Linux 2 (CBL-Mariner) kernel No fix yet —

Oracle Linux

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Oracle Linux 9 kernel-uek +34 6.12.0-101.33.4.3.el10uek ELSA-2025-20530, ELSA-2025-20480

Advisories 23

References