---
id: CVE-2025-21864
title: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  tcp: drop secpath at the same time as we currently drop dst

  Xiumei reported hitting the WARN in xfrm6_tunnel_net_exit while
  running tests that boil down to:
   - create …
summary: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  tcp: drop secpath at the same time as we currently drop dst

  Xiumei reported hitting the WARN in xfrm6_tunnel_net_exit while
  running tests that boil down to:
   - create …
severity: medium
cvss: 5.5
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'
cwe:
  - CWE-476
vendor: linux
product: linux_kernel
affected:
  - 'linux_kernel >= 5.19, < 6.1.130'
  - 'linux_kernel >= 6.2, < 6.6.80'
  - 'linux_kernel >= 6.7, < 6.12.17'
  - 'linux_kernel >= 6.13, < 6.13.5'
  - linux_kernel = 6.14
patched:
  - linux_kernel 6.13.5
published: '2025-03-12'
updated: '2026-07-14'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-21864'
references:
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/69cafd9413084cd5012cf5d7c7ec6f3d493726d9'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/87858bbf21da239ace300d61dd209907995c0491'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9b6412e6979f6f9e0632075f8f008937b5cd4efd'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cd34a07f744451e2ecf9005bb7d24d0b2fb83656'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f1d5e6a5e468308af7759cf5276779d3155c5e98'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/05/msg00045.html'
    label: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
  - url: 'https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-019113.html'
    label: 0b142b55-0307-4c5a-b3c9-f314f3fb7c5e
  - url: 'https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-082556.html'
    label: 0b142b55-0307-4c5a-b3c9-f314f3fb7c5e
tags:
  - nvd
  - cve.org
epss: 0.00228
epssPercentile: 0.12118
ingestedAt: '2026-07-14T13:36:55.939Z'
ssvc:
  exploitation: none
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: partial
  timestamp: '2025-10-01T19:25:34.148914Z'
---

## Overview

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

tcp: drop secpath at the same time as we currently drop dst

Xiumei reported hitting the WARN in xfrm6_tunnel_net_exit while
running tests that boil down to:
 - create a pair of netns
 - run a basic TCP test over ipcomp6
 - delete the pair of netns

The xfrm_state found on spi_byaddr was not deleted at the time we
delete the netns, because we still have a reference on it. This
lingering reference comes from a secpath (which holds a ref on the
xfrm_state), which is still attached to an skb. This skb is not
leaked, it ends up on sk_receive_queue and then gets defer-free'd by
skb_attempt_defer_free.

The problem happens when we defer freeing an skb (push it on one CPU's
defer_list), and don't flush that list before the netns is deleted. In
that case, we still have a reference on the xfrm_state that we don't
expect at this point.

We already drop the skb's dst in the TCP receive path when it's no
longer needed, so let's also drop the secpath. At this point,
tcp_filter has already called into the LSM hooks that may require the
secpath, so it should not be needed anymore. However, in some of those
places, the MPTCP extension has just been attached to the skb, so we
cannot simply drop all extensions.

## Affected

- `linux_kernel >= 5.19, < 6.1.130`
- `linux_kernel >= 6.2, < 6.6.80`
- `linux_kernel >= 6.7, < 6.12.17`
- `linux_kernel >= 6.13, < 6.13.5`
- `linux_kernel = 6.14`

## Remediation

Upgrade past the affected range:

- `linux_kernel 6.13.5`