Impact
In the iavf driver for the Linux kernel, a race between channel reconfiguration (ethtool -L) and statistics retrieval (ethtool -S) causes the driver to use inconsistent queue counters, leading to out‑of‑bounds writes into the statistics buffer. This buffer overflow (CWE‑805 and CWE‑787) can corrupt kernel memory, trigger a crash, or, if an attacker can control the overwrite, enable local privilege escalation. The vulnerability directly impacts kernel integrity and availability, with potential secondary effects on confidentiality if memory corruption leaks sensitive data.
Affected Systems
The flaw exists in all Linux kernel releases that ship the unpatched iavf driver, including the 6.19.0 kernel and earlier. The patch that fixes the issue is identified by commit 1f931dee5b726df1940348ec31614d64bac03aa6 and is referenced in the advisory links. Kernels that have not yet incorporated this commit remain vulnerable.
Risk and Exploitability
The CVSS score for this vulnerability is 7.8, indicating a high severity. The EPSS score is reported as less than 1 %, and it is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog. Based on the description, it is inferred that the ethtool command generally requires root or CAP_SYS_ADMIN privileges. Therefore, the exploit is limited to local users with elevated privileges, reducing the likelihood of widespread compromise but still presenting a significant risk for systems that allow such users to perform channel configuration and statistics queries simultaneously.
OpenCVE Enrichment
Debian DSA