---
id: CVE-2025-68241
title: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  ipv4: route: Prevent rt_bind_exception() from rebinding stale fnhe

  The sit driver's packet transmission path calls: sit_tunnel_xmit() ->
  update_or_create_fnhe(), which…
summary: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  ipv4: route: Prevent rt_bind_exception() from rebinding stale fnhe

  The sit driver's packet transmission path calls: sit_tunnel_xmit() ->
  update_or_create_fnhe(), which…
severity: high
cvss: 7.5
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'
published: '2025-12-16'
updated: '2026-10-14'
sourceUpdated: '2026-10-14T13:10:00.187'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-68241'
references:
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/041ab9ca6e80d8f792bb69df28ebf1ef39c06af8'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0fd16ed6dc331636fb2a874c42d2f7d3156f7ff0'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/298f1e0694ab4edb6092d66efed93c4554e6ced1'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4b7210da22429765d19460d38c30eeca72656282'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/69d35c12168f9c59b159ae566f77dfad9f96d7ca'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ac1499fcd40fe06479e9b933347b837ccabc2a40'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b84f083f50ecc736a95091691339a1b363962f0e'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b8a44407bdaf2f0c5505cc7d9fc7d8da90cf9a94'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
tags:
  - nvd
epss: 0.00466
epssPercentile: 0.38568
ingestedAt: '2026-10-14T13:30:58.464Z'
---

## Overview

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

ipv4: route: Prevent rt_bind_exception() from rebinding stale fnhe

The sit driver's packet transmission path calls: sit_tunnel_xmit() ->
update_or_create_fnhe(), which lead to fnhe_remove_oldest() being called
to delete entries exceeding FNHE_RECLAIM_DEPTH+random.

The race window is between fnhe_remove_oldest() selecting fnheX for
deletion and the subsequent kfree_rcu(). During this time, the
concurrent path's __mkroute_output() -> find_exception() can fetch the
soon-to-be-deleted fnheX, and rt_bind_exception() then binds it with a
new dst using a dst_hold(). When the original fnheX is freed via RCU,
the dst reference remains permanently leaked.

CPU 0                             CPU 1
__mkroute_output()
  find_exception() [fnheX]
                                  update_or_create_fnhe()
                                    fnhe_remove_oldest() [fnheX]
  rt_bind_exception() [bind dst]
                                  RCU callback [fnheX freed, dst leak]

This issue manifests as a device reference count leak and a warning in
dmesg when unregistering the net device:

  unregister_netdevice: waiting for sitX to become free. Usage count = N

Ido Schimmel provided the simple test validation method [1].

The fix clears 'oldest->fnhe_daddr' before calling fnhe_flush_routes().
Since rt_bind_exception() checks this field, setting it to zero prevents
the stale fnhe from being reused and bound to a new dst just before it
is freed.

[1]
ip netns add ns1
ip -n ns1 link set dev lo up
ip -n ns1 address add 192.0.2.1/32 dev lo
ip -n ns1 link add name dummy1 up type dummy
ip -n ns1 route add 192.0.2.2/32 dev dummy1
ip -n ns1 link add name gretap1 up arp off type gretap \
    local 192.0.2.1 remote 192.0.2.2
ip -n ns1 route add 198.51.0.0/16 dev gretap1
taskset -c 0 ip netns exec ns1 mausezahn gretap1 \
    -A 198.51.100.1 -B 198.51.0.0/16 -t udp -p 1000 -c 0 -q &
taskset -c 2 ip netns exec ns1 mausezahn gretap1 \
    -A 198.51.100.1 -B 198.51.0.0/16 -t udp -p 1000 -c 0 -q &
sleep 10
ip netns pids ns1 | xargs kill
ip netns del ns1

## Remediation

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