Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:HSummary
CVE-2025-21814 is a medium-severity NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476) vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 5.5 (Medium).
Operationally, ranked at the 13th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SI-11 (Error Handling) and SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-5970
Vulnerability Data
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ptp: Ensure info->enable callback is always set The ioctl and sysfs handlers unconditionally call the ->enable callback. Not all drivers implement that callback, leading to NULL dereferences. Example of affected…
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drivers: ptp_s390.c, ptp_vclock.c and ptp_mock.c. Instead use a dummy callback if no better was specified by the driver.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly requires the PTP core to handle a missing ->enable callback instead of performing an unconditional NULL dereference.
Developer testing and evaluation of both the PTP framework and affected drivers (ptp_s390, ptp_vclock, ptp_mock) would have identified the unconditional callback invocation.
Mandates use of secure development standards and tools that enforce safe defaults (always-present dummy callback) rather than allowing optional function pointers.
Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Secure SDLC practices (static analysis, code review, safe coding standards) directly prevent NULL dereference bugs during development.
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Security testing can detect NULL dereference defects before release.
Secure SDLC mandates defensive coding practices that can prevent NULL dereferences.
Application security requirements can specify input validation and pointer-safety rules.
Secure architecture principles encourage defensive design that avoids unsafe pointer use.
Secure coding standards directly require NULL-pointer checks and safe dereference patterns.