# CVE-2025-68341: veth: reduce XDP no\_direct return section to fix race

- Severity: CVSS 9.8 (Critical), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2025-12-23 · Updated: 2026-08-05

## Affected

- Linux: version range not reported
- Linux: 6.11

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: veth: reduce XDP no_direct return section to fix race As explain in commit fa349e396e48 ("veth: Fix race with AF_XDP exposing old or uninitialized descriptors") for veth there is a chance after napi_complete_done() that another CPU can manage start another NAPI instance running veth_pool(). For NAPI this is correctly handled as the napi_schedule_prep() check will prevent multiple instances from getting scheduled, but for the remaining code in veth_pool() this can run concurrent with the newly started NAPI instance. The problem/race is that xdp_clear_return_frame_no_direct() isn't designed to be nested. Prior to commit 401cb7dae813 ("net: Reference bpf_redirect_info via task_struct on PREEMPT_RT.") the temporary BPF net context bpf_redirect_info was stored per CPU, where this wasn't an issue. Since this commit the BPF context is stored in 'current' task_struct. When running veth in threaded-NAPI mode, then the kthread becomes the storage area. Now a race exists between two concurrent veth_pool() function calls one exiting NAPI and one running new NAPI, both using the same BPF net context. Race is when another CPU gets within the xdp_set_return_frame_no_direct() section before exiting veth_pool() calls the clear-function xdp_clear_return_frame_no_direct().

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
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## Related

- Browse: [Critical entries](https://cve.now/critical.md) · [Linux kernel](https://cve.now/tech/linux-kernel.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c1ceabcb347d1b0f7e70a7384ec7eff3847b7628
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d0bd018ad72a8a598ae709588934135017f8af52
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a14602fcae17a3f1cb8a8521bedf31728f9e7e39

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