Cloudanix VulnDB

CVE-2025-22111

None

CVSS

—

EPSS

0.2%

Published

Apr 16, 2025

CISA due date

—

Cloudanix analysis

Schedule a fix SSVC: Track

A flaw in how the system manages network bridges under heavy load can cause delays or warning messages but is unlikely to be directly exploited by attackers.

Exploitation
Local Privilege
Attacker needs
Low Privilege
Complexity
Moderate
Impact
Other
Component
OS kernel
Class
Race Condition
Remediation
Upgrade
Effort
Medium
Patch risk
Low

What it actually does

Race condition in Linux kernel bridge ioctl handling for SIOCBRADDIF/SIOCBRDELIF causes unnecessary RTNL lock/unlock cycles in dev_ioctl(), allowing a window where concurrent bridge deletion can lead to reference count mismatches and netdevice unregister waits.

Why it matters to the business

Networking configurations using Linux bridges may experience system log spam, delayed operations, or rare hangs under high concurrency, increasing operational overhead especially in environments with frequent bridge modifications; urgency is low given no KEV listing and stable EPSS.

How an attack unfolds

An attacker with local CAP_NET_ADMIN triggers concurrent SIOCBRDELIF and SIOCBRDELBR calls from separate threads; one thread holds a device reference across an RTNL unlock while the other attempts bridge removal, resulting in the documented splat rather than direct code execution. Listed threat actors appear associated with separate Linux kernel privilege escalation issues.

How to fix it

Update the Linux kernel to a version containing the fix that moves capability checks and device lookup into br_ioctl_stub() and avoids the dev_ioctl() path for these ioctls. For listed Red Hat packages apply the exact fixed versions such as postgresql-server 0:13.18-1.module+el8.4.0+22569+f2b35d9d.

How to confirm the fix worked

Confirm kernel source contains the revised br_ioctl_call and br_ioctl_stub logic; test concurrent bridge add/del operations under load and verify absence of the unregister_netdevice waiting splat in dmesg.

Typical attack path

  1. Obtain local access with network admin capabilities
  2. Issue SIOCBRDELIF ioctl on a bridge device from one thread
  3. Simultaneously issue SIOCBRDELBR from a second thread during the RTNL release window
  4. Trigger prolonged execution under RTNL pressure to hit the reference wait path

How to detect it

Search kernel logs for the unregister_netdevice waiting message combined with netdev tracker allocations from dev_ifsioc; correlate with bridge ioctl activity in audit logs. Threat actor mentions relate to other CVEs.

What your security team should do

  • Prioritize kernel updates on systems using Linux bridging
  • Monitor for RTNL-related stalls in production bridge environments
  • Apply the precise fixed package versions provided for affected Red Hat modules
  • Review bridge management scripts for unnecessary concurrent ioctl patterns

The record

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: Remove RTNL dance for SIOCBRADDIF and SIOCBRDELIF. SIOCBRDELIF is passed to dev_ioctl() first and later forwarded to br_ioctl_call(), which causes unnecessary RTNL dance and the splat below [0] under RTNL pressure. Let's say Thread A is trying to detach a device from a bridge and Thread B is trying to remove the bridge. In dev_ioctl(), Thread A bumps the bridge device's refcnt by netdev_hold() and releases RTNL because the following br_ioctl_call() also re-acquires RTNL. In the race window, Thread B could acquire RTNL and try to remove the bridge device. Then, rtnl_unlock() by Thread B will release RTNL and wait for netdev_put() by Thread A. Thread A, however, must hold RTNL after the unlock in dev_ifsioc(), which may take long under RTNL pressure, resulting in the splat by Thread B. Thread A (SIOCBRDELIF) Thread B (SIOCBRDELBR) ---------------------- ---------------------- sock_ioctl sock_ioctl `- sock_do_ioctl `- br_ioctl_call `- dev_ioctl `- br_ioctl_stub |- rtnl_lock | |- dev_ifsioc ' ' |- dev = __dev_get_by_name(...) |- netdev_hold(dev, ...) . / |- rtnl_unlock ------. | | |- br_ioctl_call `---> |- rtnl_lock Race | | `- br_ioctl_stub |- br_del_bridge Window | | | |- dev = __dev_get_by_name(...) | | | May take long | `- br_dev_delete(dev, ...) | | | under RTNL pressure | `- unregister_netdevice_queue(dev, ...) | | | | `- rtnl_unlock \ | |- rtnl_lock <-' `- netdev_run_todo | |- ... `- netdev_run_todo | `- rtnl_unlock |- __rtnl_unlock | |- netdev_wait_allrefs_any |- netdev_put(dev, ...) <----------------' Wait refcnt decrement and log splat below To avoid blocking SIOCBRDELBR unnecessarily, let's not call dev_ioctl() for SIOCBRADDIF and SIOCBRDELIF. In the dev_ioctl() path, we do the following: 1. Copy struct ifreq by get_user_ifreq in sock_do_ioctl() 2. Check CAP_NET_ADMIN in dev_ioctl() 3. Call dev_load() in dev_ioctl() 4. Fetch the master dev from ifr.ifr_name in dev_ifsioc() 3. can be done by request_module() in br_ioctl_call(), so we move 1., 2., and 4. to br_ioctl_stub(). Note that 2. is also checked later in add_del_if(), but it's better performed before RTNL. SIOCBRADDIF and SIOCBRDELIF have been processed in dev_ioctl() since the pre-git era, and there seems to be no specific reason to process them there. [0]: unregister_netdevice: waiting for wpan3 to become free. Usage count = 2 ref_tracker: wpan3@ffff8880662d8608 has 1/1 users at __netdev_tracker_alloc include/linux/netdevice.h:4282 [inline] netdev_hold include/linux/netdevice.h:4311 [inline] dev_ifsioc+0xc6a/0x1160 net/core/dev_ioctl.c:624 dev_ioctl+0x255/0x10c0 net/core/dev_ioctl.c:826 sock_do_ioctl+0x1ca/0x260 net/socket.c:1213 sock_ioctl+0x23a/0x6c0 net/socket.c:1318 vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline] __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:906 [inline] __se_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:892 [inline] __x64_sys_ioctl+0x1a4/0x210 fs/ioctl.c:892 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:52 [inline] do_syscall_64+0xcb/0x250 arch/x86/entry/common.c:83 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f

Affected packages

Ecosystem Package Introduced Fixed
Chainguard hyperv-daemons-6.12 0 6.12.57-r0
Chainguard linux-aws-6.12-boot-installed 0 6.12.57-r0
Chainguard linux-aws-6.12-fips-boot-installed 0 6.12.57-r0
Chainguard linux-aws-6.12-headers 0 6.12.57-r1
Chainguard linux-aws-6.12-modules 0 6.12.57-r0
Chainguard linux-azure-6.12-boot-installed 0 6.12.57-r0
Chainguard linux-azure-6.12-fips-boot-installed 0 6.12.57-r0
Chainguard linux-azure-6.12-headers 0 6.12.57-r1
Chainguard linux-azure-6.12-modules 0 6.12.57-r0
Chainguard linux-gcp-6.12-boot-installed 0 6.12.57-r0
Chainguard linux-gcp-6.12-fips-boot-installed 0 6.12.57-r0
Chainguard linux-gcp-6.12-headers 0 6.12.57-r1
Chainguard linux-gcp-6.12-modules 0 6.12.57-r1
Chainguard linux-qemu-6.12-boot-installed 0 6.12.63-r0
Chainguard linux-qemu-6.12-fips-boot-installed 0 6.12.63-r0
Chainguard linux-qemu-6.12-headers 0 6.12.63-r0
Chainguard linux-qemu-6.12-modules 0 6.12.63-r0
Chainguard linux-vmware-6.12-boot-installed 0 6.12.63-r0
Chainguard linux-vmware-6.12-fips-boot-installed 0 6.12.63-r0
Chainguard linux-vmware-6.12-headers 0 6.12.63-r0
Chainguard linux-vmware-6.12-modules 0 6.12.63-r0
Debian:12 linux 0 No fix
Debian:13 linux 0 No fix
Debian:14 linux 0 6.16.3-1
Linux Kernel 5.15.0 5.15.198
Linux Kernel 5.15.0 6.14.2
SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP6 kernel-default 0 6.4.0-150600.23.60.5
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP6 kernel-default 0 6.4.0-150600.23.60.5
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP6 kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP6-RT_Update_13 0 1-150600.1.5.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP6 kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP6_Update_13 0 1-150600.13.6.4
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP6 kernel-64kb 0 6.4.0-150600.23.60.4
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP6 kernel-default 0 6.4.0-150600.23.60.5
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP6 kernel-default-base 0 6.4.0-150600.23.60.5.150600.12.26.4
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP6 kernel-source 0 6.4.0-150600.23.60.4
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP6 kernel-zfcpdump 0 6.4.0-150600.23.60.4
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Confidential Computing Technical Preview 15 SP6 kernel-coco 0 6.4.0-15061.28.coco15sp6.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Confidential Computing Technical Preview 15 SP6 kernel-coco_debug 0 6.4.0-15061.28.coco15sp6.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Confidential Computing Technical Preview 15 SP6 kernel-source-coco 0 6.4.0-15061.28.coco15sp6.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Confidential Computing Technical Preview 15 SP6 kernel-syms-coco 0 6.4.0-15061.28.coco15sp6.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP6 kernel-docs 0 6.4.0-150600.23.60.3
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP6 kernel-obs-build 0 6.4.0-150600.23.60.3
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP6 kernel-source 0 6.4.0-150600.23.60.4
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP6 kernel-syms 0 6.4.0-150600.23.60.4
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Legacy 15 SP6 kernel-default 0 6.4.0-150600.23.60.5
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Public Cloud 15 SP6 kernel-azure 0 6.4.0-150600.8.43.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Public Cloud 15 SP6 kernel-source-azure 0 6.4.0-150600.8.43.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Public Cloud 15 SP6 kernel-syms-azure 0 6.4.0-150600.8.43.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Workstation Extension 15 SP6 kernel-default 0 6.4.0-150600.23.60.5
SUSE:Real Time Module 15 SP6 kernel-rt 0 6.4.0-150600.10.44.1
SUSE:Real Time Module 15 SP6 kernel-rt_debug 0 6.4.0-150600.10.44.1
SUSE:Real Time Module 15 SP6 kernel-source-rt 0 6.4.0-150600.10.44.1
SUSE:Real Time Module 15 SP6 kernel-syms-rt 0 6.4.0-150600.10.44.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 dtb-aarch64 0 6.4.0-150600.23.60.3
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-64kb 0 6.4.0-150600.23.60.4
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-azure 0 6.4.0-150600.8.43.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-debug 0 6.4.0-150600.23.60.4
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-default 0 6.4.0-150600.23.60.5
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-default-base 0 6.4.0-150600.23.60.5.150600.12.26.4
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-docs 0 6.4.0-150600.23.60.3
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-kvmsmall 0 6.4.0-150600.23.60.4
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-obs-build 0 6.4.0-150600.23.60.3
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-obs-qa 0 6.4.0-150600.23.60.2
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-rt 0 6.4.0-150600.10.44.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-rt_debug 0 6.4.0-150600.10.44.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-source 0 6.4.0-150600.23.60.4
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-source-azure 0 6.4.0-150600.8.43.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-source-rt 0 6.4.0-150600.10.44.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-syms 0 6.4.0-150600.23.60.4
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-syms-azure 0 6.4.0-150600.8.43.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-syms-rt 0 6.4.0-150600.10.44.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-zfcpdump 0 6.4.0-150600.23.60.4

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