DEBIAN-CVE-2025-71097
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ipv4: Fix reference count leak when using error routes with nexthop objects When a nexthop object is deleted, it is marked as dead and then fib_table_flush() is called to flush all the routes that are using the dead nexthop. The current logic in fib_table_flush() is to only flush error routes (e.g., blackhole) when it is called as part of network namespace dismantle (i.e., with flush_all=true). Therefore, error routes are not flushed when their nexthop object is deleted: # ip link add name dummy1 up type dummy # ip nexthop add id 1 dev dummy1 # ip route add 198.51.100.1/32 nhid 1 # ip route add blackhole 198.51.100.2/32 nhid 1 # ip nexthop del id 1 # ip route show blackhole 198.51.100.2 nhid 1 dev dummy1 As such, they keep holding a reference on the nexthop object which in turn holds a reference on the nexthop device, resulting in a reference count leak: # ip link del dev dummy1 [ 70.516258] unregister_netdevice: waiting for dummy1 to become free. Usage count = 2 Fix by flushing error routes when their nexthop is marked as dead. IPv6 does not suffer from this problem.
Risk Scores
Affected Products
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| Debian:13 | linux | 0, 6.12.38-1, 6.12.41-1 |
| Debian:12 | linux | 6.1.38-4~bpo11+1, 6.1.52-1, 6.1.55-1 |
| Debian:14 | linux | 6.16.12-1, 6.16.12-1, 6.16.12-2 |
| Debian:11 | linux | 0, 5.10.103-1~bpo10+1, 5.10.113-1 |
| Debian:11 | linux-6.1 | 6.1.106-3~deb11u1, 0, 6.1.112-1~deb11u1 |
Timeline
- Jan 13, 2026 CVE Published
- Apr 28, 2026 CVE Updated