Skip to content
OpenAdvisories
High · 7.8 CVE-2025-22109 EUVD-2025-11176GHSA-rgvr-pr7c-x97v

ax25: Remove broken autobind

Published Apr 16, 2025 · Updated Oct 30, 2026 · Assigned by Linux

Vendor: Linux Product: Linux Package: kernel Package: linux Package: linux Package: linux-6.12 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-6.17 Package: linux-azure-fde-6.2 Package: linux-azure-fde-6.8 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: Remove broken autobind

Binding AX25 socket by using the autobind feature leads to memory leaks
in ax25_connect() and also refcount leaks in ax25_release(). Memory
leak was detected with kmemleak:

================================================================
unreferenced object 0xffff8880253cd680 (size 96):
backtrace:
__kmalloc_node_track_caller_noprof (./include/linux/kmemleak.h:43)
kmemdup_noprof (mm/util.c:136)
ax25_rt_autobind (net/ax25/ax25_route.c:428)
ax25_connect (net/ax25/af_ax25.c:1282)
__sys_connect_file (net/socket.c:2045)
__sys_connect (net/socket.c:2064)
__x64_sys_connect (net/socket.c:2067)
do_syscall_64 (arch/x86/entry/common.c:52 arch/x86/entry/common.c:83)
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe (arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:130)
================================================================

When socket is bound, refcounts must be incremented the way it is done
in ax25_bind() and ax25_setsockopt() (SO_BINDTODEVICE). In case of
autobind, the refcounts are not incremented.

This bug leads to the following issue reported by Syzkaller:

================================================================
ax25_connect(): syz-executor318 uses autobind, please contact jreuter@yaina.de
------------[ cut here ]------------
refcount_t: decrement hit 0; leaking memory.
WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 5317 at lib/refcount.c:31 refcount_warn_saturate+0xfa/0x1d0 lib/refcount.c:31
Modules linked in:
CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 5317 Comm: syz-executor318 Not tainted 6.14.0-rc4-syzkaller-00278-gece144f151ac #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+0xfa/0x1d0 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+0x6af/0x7e0 lib/ref_tracker.c:236
netdev_tracker_free include/linux/netdevice.h:4302 [inline]
netdev_put include/linux/netdevice.h:4319 [inline]
ax25_release+0x368/0x960 net/ax25/af_ax25.c:1080
__sock_release net/socket.c:647 [inline]
sock_close+0xbc/0x240 net/socket.c:1398
__fput+0x3e9/0x9f0 fs/file_table.c:464
__do_sys_close fs/open.c:1580 [inline]
__se_sys_close fs/open.c:1565 [inline]
__x64_sys_close+0x7f/0x110 fs/open.c:1565
do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:52 [inline]
do_syscall_64+0xf3/0x230 arch/x86/entry/common.c:83
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f
...
</TASK>
================================================================

Considering the issues above and the comments left in the code that say:
"check if we can remove this feature. It is broken."; "autobinding in this
may or may not work"; - it is better to completely remove this feature than
to fix it because it is broken and leads to various kinds of memory bugs.

Now calling connect() without first binding socket will result in an
error (-EINVAL). Userspace software that relies on the autobind feature
might get broken. However, this feature does not seem widely used with
this specific driver as it was not reliable at any point of time, and it
is already broken anyway. E.g. ax25-tools and ax25-apps packages for
popular distributions do not use the autobind feature for AF_AX25.

Found by Linux Verification Center (linuxtesting.org) with Syzkaller.

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
Linux Linux 2.6.12 6.1.191

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 6.16.3-1 —
Debian 13 linux 6.12.115-2 —
Debian 12 linux No fix yet —
Debian 12 linux-6.12 6.12.115-2~deb12u1 —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu Nvidia-BlueField 24.04 LTS linux-bluefield No fix yet —
Ubuntu Nvidia-BlueField 22.04 LTS linux-bluefield No fix yet —
Ubuntu 25.10 linux-azure-fde No fix yet —
Ubuntu 25.04 linux 6.14.0-22.22 USN-7594-1
Ubuntu 25.04 linux-aws +3 6.14.0-1007.7 USN-7594-3, USN-7594-2, USN-7594-1
Ubuntu 25.04 linux-gcp 6.14.0-1008.8 USN-7594-1
Ubuntu 25.04 linux-realtime 6.14.0-1004.4 USN-7594-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux +27 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-nvidia-tegra 6.8.0-1035.38 USN-8781-1
Show 19 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux +59 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-gke +28 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS linux-gcp +14 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS linux-hwe-edge No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro Realtime 24.04 LTS linux-realtime +1 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro Realtime 22.04 LTS linux-realtime +2 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS 20.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS 18.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS 16.04 LTS linux-fips No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 24.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
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 +3 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 No fix yet —
Azure Linux 2 (CBL-Mariner) kernel No fix yet —

Advisories 16

References