CVE-2025-68245

Name of the Vulnerable Software and Affected Versions Linux kernel (affected versions not specified)

Description A flaw exists in the Linux kernel's netpoll functionality related to incorrect reference counting during cleanup operations. A previously committed fix (efa95b01da18, "netpoll: fix use after free") inadvertently ignored the reference count, leading to premature nullification of the dev->npinfo pointer during netpoll cleanup. This resulted in improper behavior and memory leaks when multiple netpolls were associated with the same network interface card (NIC). Specifically, the initial cleanup would clear dev->npinfo without decrementing the reference count, causing subsequent cleanup attempts to fail and leak memory associated with the netpoll instance and its associated skb pool. The issue was addressed by reverting the problematic commit and adding clarifying comments to ensure that npinfo cleanup only occurs when the reference count reaches zero.

Recommendations At the moment, there is no information about a newer version that contains a fix for this vulnerability.