Linux Kernel Vulnerability in Vsock Transport Mechanism

CVE-2025-21755

Summary

A vulnerability in the Linux kernel's vsock transport mechanism allows for a null pointer dereference during the socket release process. This occurs because the function sock_orphan() is invoked without properly managing the socket's state, resulting in sk->sk_wq being set to NULL. If the SO_LINGER option is enabled, this improper handling leads to dereferencing a null pointer in virtio_transport_wait_close(), which can cause system instability and vulnerabilities. The issue primarily affects sockets after transport release, necessitating careful management of resource release to ensure system integrity.

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