CVE-2025-38734 - Vulnerability Details

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net/smc: fix UAF on smcsk after smc_listen_out()

BPF CI testing report a UAF issue:

[ 16.446633] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 000000000000003 0
[ 16.447134] #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mod e
[ 16.447516] #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present pag e
[ 16.447878] PGD 0 P4D 0
[ 16.448063] Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP NOPT I
[ 16.448409] CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 9 Comm: kworker/0:1 Tainted: G OE 6.13.0-rc3-g89e8a75fda73-dirty #4 2
[ 16.449124] Tainted: [O]=OOT_MODULE, [E]=UNSIGNED_MODUL E
[ 16.449502] Hardware name: QEMU Ubuntu 24.04 PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.16.3-debian-1.16.3-2 04/01/201 4
[ 16.450201] Workqueue: smc_hs_wq smc_listen_wor k
[ 16.450531] RIP: 0010:smc_listen_work+0xc02/0x159 0
[ 16.452158] RSP: 0018:ffffb5ab40053d98 EFLAGS: 0001024 6
[ 16.452526] RAX: 0000000000000001 RBX: 0000000000000002 RCX: 000000000000030 0
[ 16.452994] RDX: 0000000000000280 RSI: 00003513840053f0 RDI: 000000000000000 0
[ 16.453492] RBP: ffffa097808e3800 R08: ffffa09782dba1e0 R09: 000000000000000 5
[ 16.453987] R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ffffa0978274640 0
[ 16.454497] R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: ffffa09782d4092 0
[ 16.454996] FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffffa097bbc00000(0000) knlGS:000000000000000 0
[ 16.455557] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 000000008005003 3
[ 16.455961] CR2: 0000000000000030 CR3: 0000000102788004 CR4: 0000000000770ef 0
[ 16.456459] PKRU: 5555555 4
[ 16.456654] Call Trace :
[ 16.456832] <TASK >
[ 16.456989] ? __die+0x23/0x7 0
[ 16.457215] ? page_fault_oops+0x180/0x4c 0
[ 16.457508] ? __lock_acquire+0x3e6/0x249 0
[ 16.457801] ? exc_page_fault+0x68/0x20 0
[ 16.458080] ? asm_exc_page_fault+0x26/0x3 0
[ 16.458389] ? smc_listen_work+0xc02/0x159 0
[ 16.458689] ? smc_listen_work+0xc02/0x159 0
[ 16.458987] ? lock_is_held_type+0x8f/0x10 0
[ 16.459284] process_one_work+0x1ea/0x6d 0
[ 16.459570] worker_thread+0x1c3/0x38 0
[ 16.459839] ? __pfx_worker_thread+0x10/0x1 0
[ 16.460144] kthread+0xe0/0x11 0
[ 16.460372] ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x1 0
[ 16.460640] ret_from_fork+0x31/0x5 0
[ 16.460896] ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x1 0
[ 16.461166] ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x3 0
[ 16.461453] </TASK >
[ 16.461616] Modules linked in: bpf_testmod(OE) [last unloaded: bpf_testmod(OE) ]
[ 16.462134] CR2: 000000000000003 0
[ 16.462380] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---
[ 16.462710] RIP: 0010:smc_listen_work+0xc02/0x1590

The direct cause of this issue is that after smc_listen_out_connected(),
newclcsock->sk may be NULL since it will releases the smcsk. Therefore,
if the application closes the socket immediately after accept,
newclcsock->sk can be NULL. A possible execution order could be as
follows:

smc_listen_work | userspace
-----------------------------------------------------------------
lock_sock(sk) |
smc_listen_out_connected() |
| \- smc_listen_out |
| | \- release_sock |
| |- sk->sk_data_ready() |
| fd = accept();
| close(fd);
| \- socket->sk = NULL;
/* newclcsock->sk is NULL now */
SMC_STAT_SERV_SUCC_INC(sock_net(newclcsock->sk))

Since smc_listen_out_connected() will not fail, simply swapping the order
of the code can easily fix this issue.

Published: 2025-09-05

Score: 7.8 High

EPSS: < 1% Very Low

KEV: No

Impact:

Action:

Analysis

No analysis available yet.

Default status is the baseline for the product, each version can override it (e.g. patched versions marked unaffected).

Vendor Product Default status Versions

Linux

unaffected

Version	Status	Constraints
`3b2dec2603d5b06ad3af71c1164ca0b92df3d2a8`	affected	< 070b4af44c4b6e4c35fb1ca7001a6a88fd2d318f
`3b2dec2603d5b06ad3af71c1164ca0b92df3d2a8`	affected	< 2e765ba0ee0eae35688b443e97108308a716773e
`3b2dec2603d5b06ad3af71c1164ca0b92df3d2a8`	affected	< 85545f1525f9fa9bf44fec77ba011024f15da342
`3b2dec2603d5b06ad3af71c1164ca0b92df3d2a8`	affected	< d9cef55ed49117bd63695446fb84b4b91815c0b4

Linux

affected

Version	Status	Constraints
`4.18`	affected	—
`0`	unaffected	< 4.18
`6.6.103`	unaffected	≤ 6.6.*
`6.12.44`	unaffected	≤ 6.12.*
`6.16.4`	unaffected	≤ 6.16.*
`6.17`	unaffected	≤ *

Configuration 1 [-]

OR	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.17:rc1::::::
	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.17:rc2::::::

No data.

Vendor	Product	Confidence	Versions
Linux	Linux Kernel	—	—

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Remediation

No remediation available yet.

Tracking

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Advisories

Source	ID	Title
Debian DSA	DSA-6008-1	linux security update
EUVD	EUVD-2025-31555	In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/smc: fix UAF on smcsk after smc_listen_out() BPF CI testing report a UAF issue: [ 16.446633] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 000000000000003 0 [ 16.447134] #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mod e [ 16.447516] #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present pag e [ 16.447878] PGD 0 P4D 0 [ 16.448063] Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP NOPT I [ 16.448409] CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 9 Comm: kworker/0:1 Tainted: G OE 6.13.0-rc3-g89e8a75fda73-dirty #4 2 [ 16.449124] Tainted: [O]=OOT_MODULE, [E]=UNSIGNED_MODUL E [ 16.449502] Hardware name: QEMU Ubuntu 24.04 PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.16.3-debian-1.16.3-2 04/01/201 4 [ 16.450201] Workqueue: smc_hs_wq smc_listen_wor k [ 16.450531] RIP: 0010:smc_listen_work+0xc02/0x159 0 [ 16.452158] RSP: 0018:ffffb5ab40053d98 EFLAGS: 0001024 6 [ 16.452526] RAX: 0000000000000001 RBX: 0000000000000002 RCX: 000000000000030 0 [ 16.452994] RDX: 0000000000000280 RSI: 00003513840053f0 RDI: 000000000000000 0 [ 16.453492] RBP: ffffa097808e3800 R08: ffffa09782dba1e0 R09: 000000000000000 5 [ 16.453987] R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ffffa0978274640 0 [ 16.454497] R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: ffffa09782d4092 0 [ 16.454996] FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffffa097bbc00000(0000) knlGS:000000000000000 0 [ 16.455557] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 000000008005003 3 [ 16.455961] CR2: 0000000000000030 CR3: 0000000102788004 CR4: 0000000000770ef 0 [ 16.456459] PKRU: 5555555 4 [ 16.456654] Call Trace : [ 16.456832] <TASK > [ 16.456989] ? __die+0x23/0x7 0 [ 16.457215] ? page_fault_oops+0x180/0x4c 0 [ 16.457508] ? __lock_acquire+0x3e6/0x249 0 [ 16.457801] ? exc_page_fault+0x68/0x20 0 [ 16.458080] ? asm_exc_page_fault+0x26/0x3 0 [ 16.458389] ? smc_listen_work+0xc02/0x159 0 [ 16.458689] ? smc_listen_work+0xc02/0x159 0 [ 16.458987] ? lock_is_held_type+0x8f/0x10 0 [ 16.459284] process_one_work+0x1ea/0x6d 0 [ 16.459570] worker_thread+0x1c3/0x38 0 [ 16.459839] ? __pfx_worker_thread+0x10/0x1 0 [ 16.460144] kthread+0xe0/0x11 0 [ 16.460372] ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x1 0 [ 16.460640] ret_from_fork+0x31/0x5 0 [ 16.460896] ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x1 0 [ 16.461166] ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x3 0 [ 16.461453] </TASK > [ 16.461616] Modules linked in: bpf_testmod(OE) [last unloaded: bpf_testmod(OE) ] [ 16.462134] CR2: 000000000000003 0 [ 16.462380] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- [ 16.462710] RIP: 0010:smc_listen_work+0xc02/0x1590 The direct cause of this issue is that after smc_listen_out_connected(), newclcsock->sk may be NULL since it will releases the smcsk. Therefore, if the application closes the socket immediately after accept, newclcsock->sk can be NULL. A possible execution order could be as follows: smc_listen_work \| userspace ----------------------------------------------------------------- lock_sock(sk) \| smc_listen_out_connected() \| \| \- smc_listen_out \| \| \| \- release_sock \| \| \|- sk->sk_data_ready() \| \| fd = accept(); \| close(fd); \| \- socket->sk = NULL; /* newclcsock->sk is NULL now */ SMC_STAT_SERV_SUCC_INC(sock_net(newclcsock->sk)) Since smc_listen_out_connected() will not fail, simply swapping the order of the code can easily fix this issue.
Ubuntu USN	USN-8028-1	Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN	USN-8028-2	Linux kernel (Real-time) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN	USN-8031-1	Linux kernel (GCP) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN	USN-8028-3	Linux kernel (Real-time) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN	USN-8028-4	Linux kernel (FIPS) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN	USN-8028-5	Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN	USN-8031-2	Linux kernel (GCP FIPS) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN	USN-8028-6	Linux kernel (HWE) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN	USN-8031-3	Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN	USN-8052-1	Linux kernel (Low Latency) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN	USN-8028-7	Linux kernel (Low Latency NVIDIA) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN	USN-8028-8	Linux kernel (IBM) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN	USN-8052-2	Linux kernel (Xilinx) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN	USN-8074-1	Linux kernel (Azure) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN	USN-8074-2	Linux kernel (Azure FIPS) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN	USN-8126-1	Linux kernel (Azure) vulnerabilities

No CVSS v4.0

Attack Vector Local

Attack Complexity Low

Privileges Required Low

Scope Unchanged

Confidentiality Impact High

Integrity Impact High

Availability Impact High

User Interaction None

No CVSS v3.0

No CVSS v2

This CVE is not in the KEV list.

The EPSS score is 0.00018.

Key SSVC decision points have not yet been added.

References

Link	Providers
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/070b4af44c4b6e4c35fb1ca7001a6a88fd2d318f
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2e765ba0ee0eae35688b443e97108308a716773e
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/85545f1525f9fa9bf44fec77ba011024f15da342
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d9cef55ed49117bd63695446fb84b4b91815c0b4
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/2025090543-CVE-2025-38734-a75f@gregkh/T
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38734
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38734

History

Tue, 25 Nov 2025 22:00:00 +0000

Type	Values Removed	Values Added
Weaknesses		CWE-416
CPEs		cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:::::::: cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.17:rc1:::::: cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.17:rc2::::::
Metrics	cvssV3_1 `{'score': 5.5, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'}`	cvssV3_1 `{'score': 7.8, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H'}`

Sun, 07 Sep 2025 15:30:00 +0000

Type	Values Removed	Values Added
First Time appeared		Linux Linux linux Kernel
Vendors & Products		Linux Linux linux Kernel

Sat, 06 Sep 2025 00:15:00 +0000

Type	Values Removed	Values Added
References		https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/2025090543-CVE-2025-38734-a75f@gregkh/T https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38734 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38734
Metrics	threat_severity `None`	cvssV3_1 `{'score': 5.5, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'}` threat_severity `Moderate`

Fri, 05 Sep 2025 17:30:00 +0000

Type	Values Removed	Values Added
Description		In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/smc: fix UAF on smcsk after smc_listen_out() BPF CI testing report a UAF issue: [ 16.446633] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 000000000000003 0 [ 16.447134] #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mod e [ 16.447516] #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present pag e [ 16.447878] PGD 0 P4D 0 [ 16.448063] Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP NOPT I [ 16.448409] CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 9 Comm: kworker/0:1 Tainted: G OE 6.13.0-rc3-g89e8a75fda73-dirty #4 2 [ 16.449124] Tainted: [O]=OOT_MODULE, [E]=UNSIGNED_MODUL E [ 16.449502] Hardware name: QEMU Ubuntu 24.04 PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.16.3-debian-1.16.3-2 04/01/201 4 [ 16.450201] Workqueue: smc_hs_wq smc_listen_wor k [ 16.450531] RIP: 0010:smc_listen_work+0xc02/0x159 0 [ 16.452158] RSP: 0018:ffffb5ab40053d98 EFLAGS: 0001024 6 [ 16.452526] RAX: 0000000000000001 RBX: 0000000000000002 RCX: 000000000000030 0 [ 16.452994] RDX: 0000000000000280 RSI: 00003513840053f0 RDI: 000000000000000 0 [ 16.453492] RBP: ffffa097808e3800 R08: ffffa09782dba1e0 R09: 000000000000000 5 [ 16.453987] R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ffffa0978274640 0 [ 16.454497] R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: ffffa09782d4092 0 [ 16.454996] FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffffa097bbc00000(0000) knlGS:000000000000000 0 [ 16.455557] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 000000008005003 3 [ 16.455961] CR2: 0000000000000030 CR3: 0000000102788004 CR4: 0000000000770ef 0 [ 16.456459] PKRU: 5555555 4 [ 16.456654] Call Trace : [ 16.456832] <TASK > [ 16.456989] ? __die+0x23/0x7 0 [ 16.457215] ? page_fault_oops+0x180/0x4c 0 [ 16.457508] ? __lock_acquire+0x3e6/0x249 0 [ 16.457801] ? exc_page_fault+0x68/0x20 0 [ 16.458080] ? asm_exc_page_fault+0x26/0x3 0 [ 16.458389] ? smc_listen_work+0xc02/0x159 0 [ 16.458689] ? smc_listen_work+0xc02/0x159 0 [ 16.458987] ? lock_is_held_type+0x8f/0x10 0 [ 16.459284] process_one_work+0x1ea/0x6d 0 [ 16.459570] worker_thread+0x1c3/0x38 0 [ 16.459839] ? __pfx_worker_thread+0x10/0x1 0 [ 16.460144] kthread+0xe0/0x11 0 [ 16.460372] ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x1 0 [ 16.460640] ret_from_fork+0x31/0x5 0 [ 16.460896] ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x1 0 [ 16.461166] ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x3 0 [ 16.461453] </TASK > [ 16.461616] Modules linked in: bpf_testmod(OE) [last unloaded: bpf_testmod(OE) ] [ 16.462134] CR2: 000000000000003 0 [ 16.462380] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- [ 16.462710] RIP: 0010:smc_listen_work+0xc02/0x1590 The direct cause of this issue is that after smc_listen_out_connected(), newclcsock->sk may be NULL since it will releases the smcsk. Therefore, if the application closes the socket immediately after accept, newclcsock->sk can be NULL. A possible execution order could be as follows: smc_listen_work \| userspace ----------------------------------------------------------------- lock_sock(sk) \| smc_listen_out_connected() \| \| \- smc_listen_out \| \| \| \- release_sock \| \| \|- sk->sk_data_ready() \| \| fd = accept(); \| close(fd); \| \- socket->sk = NULL; /* newclcsock->sk is NULL now */ SMC_STAT_SERV_SUCC_INC(sock_net(newclcsock->sk)) Since smc_listen_out_connected() will not fail, simply swapping the order of the code can easily fix this issue.
Title		net/smc: fix UAF on smcsk after smc_listen_out()
References		https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/070b4af44c4b6e4c35fb1ca7001a6a88fd2d318f https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2e765ba0ee0eae35688b443e97108308a716773e https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/85545f1525f9fa9bf44fec77ba011024f15da342 https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d9cef55ed49117bd63695446fb84b4b91815c0b4

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Linux Linux Kernel

MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: Linux

Published: 2025-09-05T17:20:34.126Z

Updated: 2025-09-29T05:57:03.016Z

Reserved: 2025-04-16T04:51:24.034Z

Link: CVE-2025-38734

Vulnrichment

No data.

NVD

Status : Analyzed

Published: 2025-09-05T18:15:42.677

Modified: 2025-11-25T21:59:17.530

Link: CVE-2025-38734

Redhat

Severity : Moderate

Publid Date: 2025-09-05T00:00:00Z

Links: CVE-2025-38734 - Bugzilla

OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2025-09-07T15:25:00Z

Weaknesses

CWE-416

Tracking

Attack Vector Local

Attack Complexity Low

Privileges Required Low

Scope Unchanged

Confidentiality Impact High

Integrity Impact High

Availability Impact High

User Interaction None

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