---
id: CVE-2025-46836
title: net-tools Stack-based Buffer Overflow vulnerability
summary: >-
  net-tools is a collection of programs that form the base set of the NET-3
  networking distribution for the Linux operating system. Inn versions up to and
  including 2.10, the Linux network utilities (like ifconfig) from the net-tools
  packa…
severity: medium
cvss: 6.6
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:H'
cvssSource: cna
cwe:
  - CWE-20
  - CWE-121
vendor: ecki
product: net-tools
affected:
  - net-tools <= 2.10
ssvc:
  exploitation: poc
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: partial
  timestamp: '2025-05-15T15:34:45.640215Z'
exploitAvailable: true
published: '2025-05-14'
updated: '2026-10-15'
sourceUpdated: '2026-10-15T01:09:12.374Z'
source: CVEORG
sourceUrl: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-46836'
references:
  - url: 'https://github.com/ecki/net-tools/security/advisories/GHSA-pfwf-h6m3-63wf'
    label: 'https://github.com/ecki/net-tools/security/advisories/GHSA-pfwf-h6m3-63wf'
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/ecki/net-tools/commit/7a8f42fb20013a1493d8cae1c43436f85e656f2d
    label: >-
      https://github.com/ecki/net-tools/commit/7a8f42fb20013a1493d8cae1c43436f85e656f2d
tags:
  - cve.org
  - exploit-available
epss: 0.00202
epssPercentile: 0.09404
ingestedAt: '2026-10-15T05:52:46.071Z'
---

## Overview

net-tools is a collection of programs that form the base set of the NET-3 networking distribution for the Linux operating system. Inn versions up to and including 2.10, the Linux network utilities (like ifconfig) from the net-tools package do not properly validate the structure of /proc files when showing interfaces. `get_name()` in `interface.c` copies interface labels from `/proc/net/dev` into a fixed 16-byte stack buffer without bounds checking, leading to possible arbitrary code execution or crash. The known attack path does not require privilege but also does not provide privilege escalation in this scenario. A patch is available and expected to be part of version 2.20.

## Affected

- `net-tools <= 2.10`

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.