CVE-2025-21720: xfrm: delete intermediate secpath entry in packet offload mode

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: xfrm: delete intermediate secpath entry in packet offload mode Packets handled by hardware have added secpath as a way to inform XFRM core code that this path was already handled. That secpath is not needed at all after policy is checked and it is removed later in the stack. However, in the case of IP forwarding is enabled (/proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward), that secpath is not removed and packets which already were handled are reentered to the driver TX path with xfrm_offload set. The following kernel panic is observed in mlx5 in such case: mlx5_core 0000:04:00.0 enp4s0f0np0: Link up mlx5_core 0000:04:00.1 enp4s0f1np1: Link up Initializing XFRM netlink socket IPsec XFRM device driver BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000 #PF: supervisor instruction fetch in kernel mode #PF: error_code(0x0010) - not-present page PGD 0 P4D 0 Oops: Oops: 0010 [#1] PREEMPT SMP CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 0 Comm: swapper/0 Not tainted 6.13.0-rc1-alex #3 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 1.13.0-1ubuntu1.1 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:0x0 Code: Unable to access opcode bytes at 0xffffffffffffffd6. RSP: 0018:ffffb87380003800 EFLAGS: 00010206 RAX: ffff8df004e02600 RBX: ffffb873800038d8 RCX: 00000000ffff98cf RDX: ffff8df00733e108 RSI: ffff8df00521fb80 RDI: ffff8df001661f00 RBP: ffffb87380003850 R08: ffff8df013980000 R09: 0000000000000010 R10: 0000000000000002 R11: 0000000000000002 R12: ffff8df001661f00 R13: ffff8df00521fb80 R14: ffff8df00733e108 R15: ffff8df011faf04e FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff8df46b800000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: ffffffffffffffd6 CR3: 0000000106384000 CR4: 0000000000350ef0 Call Trace: <IRQ> ? show_regs+0x63/0x70 ? __die_body+0x20/0x60 ? __die+0x2b/0x40 ? page_fault_oops+0x15c/0x550 ? do_user_addr_fault+0x3ed/0x870 ? exc_page_fault+0x7f/0x190 ? asm_exc_page_fault+0x27/0x30 mlx5e_ipsec_handle_tx_skb+0xe7/0x2f0 [mlx5_core] mlx5e_xmit+0x58e/0x1980 [mlx5_core] ? __fib_lookup+0x6a/0xb0 dev_hard_start_xmit+0x82/0x1d0 sch_direct_xmit+0xfe/0x390 __dev_queue_xmit+0x6d8/0xee0 ? __fib_lookup+0x6a/0xb0 ? internal_add_timer+0x48/0x70 ? mod_timer+0xe2/0x2b0 neigh_resolve_output+0x115/0x1b0 __neigh_update+0x26a/0xc50 neigh_update+0x14/0x20 arp_process+0x2cb/0x8e0 ? __napi_build_skb+0x5e/0x70 arp_rcv+0x11e/0x1c0 ? dev_gro_receive+0x574/0x820 __netif_receive_skb_list_core+0x1cf/0x1f0 netif_receive_skb_list_internal+0x183/0x2a0 napi_complete_done+0x76/0x1c0 mlx5e_napi_poll+0x234/0x7a0 [mlx5_core] __napi_poll+0x2d/0x1f0 net_rx_action+0x1a6/0x370 ? atomic_notifier_call_chain+0x3b/0x50 ? irq_int_handler+0x15/0x20 [mlx5_core] handle_softirqs+0xb9/0x2f0 ? handle_irq_event+0x44/0x60 irq_exit_rcu+0xdb/0x100 common_interrupt+0x98/0xc0 </IRQ> <TASK> asm_common_interrupt+0x27/0x40 RIP: 0010:pv_native_safe_halt+0xb/0x10 Code: 09 c3 66 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 66 90 0f 22 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 90 eb 07 0f 00 2d 7f e9 36 00 fb 40 00 83 ff 07 77 21 89 ff ff 24 fd 88 3d a1 bd 0f 21 f8 RSP: 0018:ffffffffbe603de8 EFLAGS: 00000202 RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: 0000000f92f46680 RDX: 0000000000000037 RSI: 00000000ffffffff RDI: 00000000000518d4 RBP: ffffffffbe603df0 R08: 000000cd42e4dffb R09: ffffffffbe603d70 R10: 0000004d80d62680 R11: 0000000000000001 R12: ffffffffbe60bf40 R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: ffffffffbe60aff8 ? default_idle+0x9/0x20 arch_cpu_idle+0x9/0x10 default_idle_call+0x29/0xf0 do_idle+0x1f2/0x240 cpu_startup_entry+0x2c/0x30 rest_init+0xe7/0x100 start_kernel+0x76b/0xb90 x86_64_start_reservations+0x18/0x30 x86_64_start_kernel+0xc0/0x110 ? setup_ghcb+0xe/0x130 common_startup_64+0x13e/0x141 </TASK> Modules linked in: esp4_offload esp4 xfrm_interface xfrm6_tunnel tunnel4 tunnel6 xfrm_user xfrm_algo binf ---truncated---

• Memory safety
• Denial of service

Published

Feb 26, 2025

Updated

Aug 5, 2026

EPSS

0.3% · 30th percentile

CWE

CWE-476