Reference page — cumulative record through Wednesday, August 19, 2026 UTC. Reference pages update as the archive grows; only dated daily editions are immutable pages of record.
Linux Linux — netfilter: nf_conncount: Fully initialize struct nf_conncount_tuple in insert_tree()
AV AC PR UI S C I A CVSS EPSS %ile KEV
L L L N U N N H 5.5 .0041 34.3 —
AFFECTED
Product Versions Fixed
Linux b36e4523d4d56e2595e28f16f6ccf1cd6a9fc452 – —
Linux 4.18 – 5.4.292
TIMELINE
Dec 29 Reserved by Linux
Apr 1 Published (CNA: Linux)
Jul 30 RESCORED — CVE-2025-21959 (Linux). CVSS 7.3 → 5.5 (NVD).
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
netfilter: nf_conncount: Fully initialize struct nf_conncount_tuple in insert_tree()
Since commit b36e4523d4d5 ("netfilter: nf_conncount: fix garbage
collection confirm race"), `cpu` and `jiffies32` were introduced to
the struct nf_conncount_tuple.
The commit made nf_conncount_add() initialize `conn->cpu` and
`conn->jiffies32` when allocating the struct.
In contrast, count_tree() was not changed to initialize them.
By commit 34848d5c896e ("netfilter: nf_conncount: Split insert and
traversal"), count_tree() was split and the relevant allocation
code now resides in insert_tree().
Initialize `conn->cpu` and `conn->jiffies32` in insert_tree().
BUG: KMSAN: uninit-value in find_or_evict net/netfilter/nf_conncount.c:117 [inline]
BUG: KMSAN: uninit-value in __nf_conncount_add+0xd9c/0x2850 net/netfilter/nf_conncount.c:143
find_or_evict net/netfilter/nf_conncount.c:117 [inline]
__nf_conncount_add+0xd9c/0x2850 net/netfilter/nf_conncount.c:143
count_tree net/netfilter/nf_conncount.c:438 [inline]
nf_conncount_count+0x82f/0x1e80 net/netfilter/nf_conncount.c:521
connlimit_mt+0x7f6/0xbd0 net/netfilter/xt_connlimit.c:72
__nft_match_eval net/netfilter/nft_compat.c:403 [inline]
nft_match_eval+0x1a5/0x300 net/netfilter/nft_compat.c:433
expr_call_ops_eval net/netfilter/nf_tables_core.c:240 [inline]
nft_do_chain+0x426/0x2290 net/netfilter/nf_tables_core.c:288
nft_do_chain_ipv4+0x1a5/0x230 net/netfilter/nft_chain_filter.c:23
nf_hook_entry_hookfn include/linux/netfilter.h:154 [inline]
nf_hook_slow+0xf4/0x400 net/netfilter/core.c:626
nf_hook_slow_list+0x24d/0x860 net/netfilter/core.c:663
NF_HOOK_LIST include/linux/netfilter.h:350 [inline]
ip_sublist_rcv+0x17b7/0x17f0 net/ipv4/ip_input.c:633
ip_list_rcv+0x9ef/0xa40 net/ipv4/ip_input.c:669
__netif_receive_skb_list_ptype net/core/dev.c:5936 [inline]
__netif_receive_skb_list_core+0x15c5/0x1670 net/core/dev.c:5983
__netif_receive_skb_list net/core/dev.c:6035 [inline]
netif_receive_skb_list_internal+0x1085/0x1700 net/core/dev.c:6126
netif_receive_skb_list+0x5a/0x460 net/core/dev.c:6178
xdp_recv_frames net/bpf/test_run.c:280 [inline]
xdp_test_run_batch net/bpf/test_run.c:361 [inline]
bpf_test_run_xdp_live+0x2e86/0x3480 net/bpf/test_run.c:390
bpf_prog_test_run_xdp+0xf1d/0x1ae0 net/bpf/test_run.c:1316
bpf_prog_test_run+0x5e5/0xa30 kernel/bpf/syscall.c:4407
__sys_bpf+0x6aa/0xd90 kernel/bpf/syscall.c:5813
__do_sys_bpf kernel/bpf/syscall.c:5902 [inline]
__se_sys_bpf kernel/bpf/syscall.c:5900 [inline]
__ia32_sys_bpf+0xa0/0xe0 kernel/bpf/syscall.c:5900
ia32_sys_call+0x394d/0x4180 arch/x86/include/generated/asm/syscalls_32.h:358
do_syscall_32_irqs_on arch/x86/entry/common.c:165 [inline]
__do_fast_syscall_32+0xb0/0x110 arch/x86/entry/common.c:387
do_fast_syscall_32+0x38/0x80 arch/x86/entry/common.c:412
do_SYSENTER_32+0x1f/0x30 arch/x86/entry/common.c:450
entry_SYSENTER_compat_after_hwframe+0x84/0x8e
Uninit was created at:
slab_post_alloc_hook mm/slub.c:4121 [inline]
slab_alloc_node mm/slub.c:4164 [inline]
kmem_cache_alloc_noprof+0x915/0xe10 mm/slub.c:4171
insert_tree net/netfilter/nf_conncount.c:372 [inline]
count_tree net/netfilter/nf_conncount.c:450 [inline]
nf_conncount_count+0x1415/0x1e80 net/netfilter/nf_conncount.c:521
connlimit_mt+0x7f6/0xbd0 net/netfilter/xt_connlimit.c:72
__nft_match_eval net/netfilter/nft_compat.c:403 [inline]
nft_match_eval+0x1a5/0x300 net/netfilter/nft_compat.c:433
expr_call_ops_eval net/netfilter/nf_tables_core.c:240 [inline]
nft_do_chain+0x426/0x2290 net/netfilter/nf_tables_core.c:288
nft_do_chain_ipv4+0x1a5/0x230 net/netfilter/nft_chain_filter.c:23
nf_hook_entry_hookfn include/linux/netfilter.h:154 [inline]
nf_hook_slow+0xf4/0x400 net/netfilter/core.c:626
nf_hook_slow_list+0x24d/0x860 net/netfilter/core.c:663
NF_HOOK_LIST include/linux/netfilter.h:350 [inline]
ip_sublist_rcv+0x17b7/0x17f0 net/ipv4/ip_input.c:633
ip_list_rcv+0x9ef/0xa40 net/ip
---truncated---
Lifecycle
Complete event history — 3 events, chronological
| Date | Event | Detail |
| December 29, 2024 | Reserved | Reserved by Linux |
| April 1, 2025 | Published | Published (CNA: Linux) |
| July 30, 2026 | RESCORED | RESCORED — CVE-2025-21959 (Linux). CVSS 7.3 → 5.5 (NVD). |
Affected
Affected products and packages — 2 rows
| Vendor | Product / Package | Ecosystem | Version introduced | Fixed |
| Linux | Linux | — | b36e4523d4d56e2595e28f16f6ccf1cd6a9fc452 | — |
| Linux | Linux | — | 4.18 | 5.4.292 |
About this page
This is a reference page, not a dated page of record. It assembles the complete lifecycle of CVE-2025-21959 from the CVE Program record, NVD enrichment, the CISA KEV catalog, EPSS, and OSV advisories. The box score's numbers (CVSS, EPSS, KEV status) are current as of Wednesday, August 19, 2026 UTC and are re-derived as the archive grows; only dated daily editions are immutable pages of record. The authoritative source for this identifier is cve.org.