CVE-2025-21646
MediumIn the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: afs: Fix the maximum cell name length The kafs filesystem limits the maximum length of a cell to 256 bytes, but a problem occurs if someone actually does that: kafs tries to create a directory under /proc/net/afs/ with the name of the cell, but that fails with a warning: WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 9 at fs/proc/generic.c:405 because procfs limits the maximum filename length to 255. However, the DNS limits the maximum lookup length and, by extension, the maximum cell name, to 255 less two (length count and trailing NUL). Fix this by limiting the maximum acceptable cellname length to 253. This also allows us to be sure we can create the "/afs/.<cell>/" mountpoint too. Further, split the YFS VL record cell name maximum to be the 256 allowed by the protocol and ignore the record retrieved by YFSVL.GetCellName if it exceeds 253.
CVSS 3.1 score
5.5
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Affected versions
Linux kernel versions
5.8
and later are affected. Fixed in
5.10.234,
5.15.177,
6.1.125,
6.6.72,
6.12.10,
6.13
and their respective stable series.
References
The following references provide additional information about CVE-2025-21646 including vendor advisories, patch commits, exploit details, and third-party analysis. Links are sourced from the NIST NVD database.
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PatchKernel patch commithttps://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7673030efe0f8ca1056d3849d61784c6caa052af
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PatchKernel patch commithttps://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7922b1f058fe24a93730511dd0ae2e1630920096
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PatchKernel patch commithttps://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7cb3e77e9b4e6ffa325a5559393d3283c9af3d01
Frequently asked questions
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What is CVE-2025-21646?
CVE-2025-21646 is a Medium severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10 . It affects Linux kernel versions from 5.8 onward and has been patched in 5.10.234, 5.15.177, 6.1.125 and others. CVE-2025-21646 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
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What is the CVSS score for CVE-2025-21646?
CVE-2025-21646 has a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10, rated Medium severity (CVSS 3.1). The vector string is
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H. -
Is there a patch available for CVE-2025-21646?
Yes — CVE-2025-21646 has been patched. Fixed versions include 5.10.234, 5.15.177, 6.1.125 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 5.8 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.
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Is CVE-2025-21646 actively exploited?
No — CVE-2025-21646 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.