CVE-2025-38464

Public on

Last Modified: UTC

Moderate Moderate Impact What does this mean?
7.3 CVSS v3 Base Score

Description

The MITRE CVE dictionary describes this issue as

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tipc: Fix use-after-free in tipc_conn_close(). syzbot reported a null-ptr-deref in tipc_conn_close() during netns dismantle. [0] tipc_topsrv_stop() iterates tipc_net(net)->topsrv->conn_idr and calls tipc_conn_close() for each tipc_conn. The problem is that tipc_conn_close() is called after releasing the IDR lock. At the same time, there might be tipc_conn_recv_work() running and it could call tipc_conn_close() for the same tipc_conn and release its last ->kref. Once we release the IDR lock in tipc_topsrv_stop(), there is no guarantee that the tipc_conn is alive. Let's hold the ref before releasing the lock and put the ref after tipc_conn_close() in tipc_topsrv_stop(). [0]: BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in tipc_conn_close+0x122/0x140 net/tipc/topsrv.c:165 Read of size 8 at addr ffff888099305a08 by task kworker/u4:3/435 CPU: 0 PID: 435 Comm: kworker/u4:3 Not tainted 4.19.204-syzkaller #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 01/01/2011 Workqueue: netns cleanup_net Call Trace: __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:77 [inline] dump_stack+0x1fc/0x2ef lib/dump_stack.c:118 print_address_description.cold+0x54/0x219 mm/kasan/report.c:256 kasan_report_error.cold+0x8a/0x1b9 mm/kasan/report.c:354 kasan_report mm/kasan/report.c:412 [inline] __asan_report_load8_noabort+0x88/0x90 mm/kasan/report.c:433 tipc_conn_close+0x122/0x140 net/tipc/topsrv.c:165 tipc_topsrv_stop net/tipc/topsrv.c:701 [inline] tipc_topsrv_exit_net+0x27b/0x5c0 net/tipc/topsrv.c:722 ops_exit_list+0xa5/0x150 net/core/net_namespace.c:153 cleanup_net+0x3b4/0x8b0 net/core/net_namespace.c:553 process_one_work+0x864/0x1570 kernel/workqueue.c:2153 worker_thread+0x64c/0x1130 kernel/workqueue.c:2296 kthread+0x33f/0x460 kernel/kthread.c:259 ret_from_fork+0x24/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:415 Allocated by task 23: kmem_cache_alloc_trace+0x12f/0x380 mm/slab.c:3625 kmalloc include/linux/slab.h:515 [inline] kzalloc include/linux/slab.h:709 [inline] tipc_conn_alloc+0x43/0x4f0 net/tipc/topsrv.c:192 tipc_topsrv_accept+0x1b5/0x280 net/tipc/topsrv.c:470 process_one_work+0x864/0x1570 kernel/workqueue.c:2153 worker_thread+0x64c/0x1130 kernel/workqueue.c:2296 kthread+0x33f/0x460 kernel/kthread.c:259 ret_from_fork+0x24/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:415 Freed by task 23: __cache_free mm/slab.c:3503 [inline] kfree+0xcc/0x210 mm/slab.c:3822 tipc_conn_kref_release net/tipc/topsrv.c:150 [inline] kref_put include/linux/kref.h:70 [inline] conn_put+0x2cd/0x3a0 net/tipc/topsrv.c:155 process_one_work+0x864/0x1570 kernel/workqueue.c:2153 worker_thread+0x64c/0x1130 kernel/workqueue.c:2296 kthread+0x33f/0x460 kernel/kthread.c:259 ret_from_fork+0x24/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:415 The buggy address belongs to the object at ffff888099305a00 which belongs to the cache kmalloc-512 of size 512 The buggy address is located 8 bytes inside of 512-byte region [ffff888099305a00, ffff888099305c00) The buggy address belongs to the page: page:ffffea000264c140 count:1 mapcount:0 mapping:ffff88813bff0940 index:0x0 flags: 0xfff00000000100(slab) raw: 00fff00000000100 ffffea00028b6b88 ffffea0002cd2b08 ffff88813bff0940 raw: 0000000000000000 ffff888099305000 0000000100000006 0000000000000000 page dumped because: kasan: bad access detected Memory state around the buggy address: ffff888099305900: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb ffff888099305980: fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc >ffff888099305a00: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb ^ ffff888099305a80: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb ffff888099305b00: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb

Statement

A Use-After-Free vulnerability was found in tipc_conn_close() in the TIPC subsystem during the cleanup of network namespaces. The race condition between tipc_topsrv_stop() and tipc_conn_recv_work() could result in accessing a freed tipc_conn structure, leading to kernel crash or potential memory corruption. The bug was triggered by syzbot and fixed by ensuring proper reference counting.

The most straightforward exploitation scenario is a local Denial of Service (DoS), where an unprivileged user with the ability to create user and network namespaces spawns TIPC connections and then triggers network namespace teardown, creating a race condition that causes a use-after-free in tipc_conn_close(). This reliably leads to a kernel panic.

A hypothetical future scenario involves local privilege escalation, if the attacker can win the race and reallocate the freed object in a controlled way (e.g., via kmalloc-512 slab reusage), leading to memory corruption or hijacking of kernel control flow.

Importantly, this can be triggered without root privileges if the system allows unprivileged creation of user and net namespaces, which is the case on many Linux distributions (/proc/sys/user/max_user_namespaces > 0 and kernel.unprivileged_userns_clone=1). In such environments, a regular user can execute the TIPC socket creation, manipulate netns teardown, and provoke the race condition required for exploitation.

Mitigation

To mitigate this issue, prevent module tipc from being loaded. Please see https://access.redhat.com/solutions/41278 for how to blacklist a kernel module to prevent it from loading automatically.

Additional Information

External References

Content from www.cve.org is not included.https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38464

Content from nvd.nist.gov is not included.https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38464

Content from lore.kernel.org is not included.https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/2025072508-CVE-2025-38464-44a1@gregkh/T

Affected Packages and Issued Red Hat Security Errata

Products / Services Components State Errata
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 kernel Fixed RHSA-2025:15005
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 kernel Not affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 kernel Not affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 kernel-rt Not affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 kernel Fixed RHSA-2025:15008
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 kernel-rt Fixed RHSA-2025:15009
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.2 Advanced Update Support kernel Fixed RHSA-2025:15656
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 Advanced Mission Critical Update Support kernel Fixed RHSA-2025:15660
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 Extended Update Support Long-Life Add-On kernel Fixed RHSA-2025:15660
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 Advanced Mission Critical Update Support kernel Fixed RHSA-2025:15647
Unless explicitly stated as not affected, all previous versions of packages in any minor update stream of a product listed here should be assumed vulnerable, although may not have been subject to full analysis.

Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details

Important note

CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authorities (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications ).

CVSS v3 Score Breakdown Red Hat NVD
CVSS v3 Base Score 7.3 7.8
Attack Vector Local Local
Attack Complexity Low Low
Privileges Required Low Low
User Interaction None None
Scope Unchanged Unchanged
Confidentiality Impact High High
Integrity Impact Low High
Availability Impact High High

CVSS v3 Vector

Red Hat CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:H

NVD CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is Red Hat's CVSS v3 score or Impact different from other vendors?

 For open source software shipped by multiple vendors, the CVSS base scores may vary for each vendor's version depending on the version they ship, how they ship it, the platform, and even how the software is compiled. This makes scoring of vulnerabilities difficult for third-party vulnerability databases such as NVD that only provide a single CVSS base score for each vulnerability. Red Hat scores reflect how a vulnerability affects our products specifically.

For more information, see https://access.redhat.com/solutions/762393.

My product is listed as "Under investigation" or "Affected", when will Red Hat release a fix for this vulnerability?
  • "Under investigation" doesn't necessarily mean that the product is affected by this vulnerability. It only means that our Analysis Team is still working on determining whether the product is affected and how it is affected.
  • "Affected" means that our Analysis Team has determined that this product is affected by this vulnerability and might release a fix to address this in the near future.

What can I do if my product is listed as "Will not fix"?

 A "will not fix" status means that a fix for an affected product version is not planned or not possible due to complexity, which may create additional risk.

Available options depend mostly on the Impact of the vulnerability and the current Life Cycle phase of your product. Overall, you have the following options:
  • Upgrade to a supported product version that includes a fix for this vulnerability (recommended).
  • Apply a mitigation (if one exists).
  • Open a This content is not included.support case to request a prioritization of releasing a fix for this vulnerability.

What can I do if my product is listed as "Fix deferred"?

 A deferred status means that a fix for an affected product version is not guaranteed due to higher-priority development work.

Available options depend mostly on the Impact of the vulnerability and the current Life Cycle phase of your product. Overall, you have the following options:
  • Apply a mitigation (if one exists).
  • Open a This content is not included.support case to request a prioritization of releasing a fix for this vulnerability.
  • Red Hat Engineering focuses on addressing high-priority issues based on their complexity or limited lifecycle support. Therefore, lower-priority issues will not receive immediate fixes.

What is a mitigation?

 A mitigation is an action that can be taken to reduce the impact of a security vulnerability, without deploying any fixes.

I have a Red Hat product but it is not in the above list, is it affected?

 The listed products were found to include one or more of the components that this vulnerability affects. These products underwent a thorough evaluation to determine their affectedness by this vulnerability. Note that layered products (such as container-based offerings) that consume affected components from any of the products listed in this table may be affected and are not represented.

Why is my security scanner reporting my product as vulnerable to this vulnerability even though my product version is fixed or not affected?

 In order to maintain code stability and compatibility, Red Hat usually does not rebase packages to entirely new versions. Instead, we backport fixes and new features to an older version of the package we distribute. This can result in some security scanners that only consider the package version to report the package as vulnerable. To avoid this, we suggest that you use an approved vulnerability scanner from our This content is not included.Red Hat Vulnerability Scanner Certification program.

My product is listed as "Out of Support Scope". What does this mean?

 When a product is listed as "Out of Support Scope", it means a vulnerability with the impact level assigned to this CVE is no longer covered by its current support lifecycle phase. The product has been identified to contain the impacted component, but analysis to determine whether it is affected or not by this vulnerability was not performed. The product should be assumed to be affected. Customers are advised to apply any mitigation options documented on this page, consider removing or disabling the impacted component, or upgrade to a supported version of the product that has an update available.