Cloudanix VulnDB

CVE-2025-38166

None

CVSS

—

EPSS

0.2%

Published

Jul 3, 2025

CISA due date

—

Cloudanix analysis

Schedule a fix SSVC: Track

A bug in the Linux kernel can cause the entire system to crash when certain networking programs run on encrypted connections.

Exploitation
Local Privilege
Attacker needs
Local User
Complexity
Moderate
Impact
Denial Of Service
Component
OS kernel
Class
Memory Corruption
Remediation
Upgrade
Effort
Medium
Patch risk
Low

What it actually does

Incorrect handling of msg_iter size after bpf_msg_push_data increases sg.size in tls_sw_sendmsg_locked leads to iov_iter_revert exceeding msg_iter bounds, triggering kernel BUG at lib/iov_iter.c:629 and panic on subsequent cork_bytes rollback to non-zero-copy path.

Why it matters to the business

Kernel panic and potential denial of service on systems using BPF programs with sockmap and kTLS under specific sendmsg corking conditions; widespread impact on Linux servers and appliances due to high ecosystem prevalence of the kernel.

How an attack unfolds

An attacker crafts a BPF program attached to a sockmap that calls bpf_msg_push_data to expand message data, then triggers send operations that set cork_bytes; the resulting size mismatch during rollback causes the revert to access invalid offsets, crashing the kernel.

How to fix it

Upgrade the Linux kernel to commit 328cac3f9f8ae394748485e769a527518a9137c8 or later; apply vendor backports for affected stable trees; avoid BPF programs that combine bpf_msg_push_data with corked TLS sockets until patched.

How to confirm the fix worked

Confirm kernel version contains commit 328cac3f9f8ae394748485e769a527518a9137c8; test sendmsg with bpf_msg_push_data under cork_bytes conditions and verify absence of iov_iter BUG; monitor for panic signatures matching the call trace.

Typical attack path

  1. Load and attach malicious BPF program to sockmap that invokes bpf_msg_push_data
  2. Establish kTLS connection and perform sendmsg operations that exceed cork_bytes threshold
  3. Force return of -ENOSPC from tls_sw_sendmsg_locked
  4. Trigger iov_iter_revert with inflated sg.size causing invalid memory access and BUG

How to detect it

Search kernel logs for 'kernel BUG at lib/iov_iter.c:629' and 'iov_iter_revert' call traces involving tls_sw_sendmsg_locked; correlate with BPF program loads on sockmap and kTLS usage; no specific post-exploitation artifacts beyond the panic itself.

What your security team should do

  • Prioritize kernel upgrades on all systems exposing kTLS or sockmap BPF usage within the next maintenance window
  • Review and restrict untrusted BPF programs that manipulate message data on TLS sockets
  • Enable kernel panic logging and monitoring for iov_iter_revert crashes
  • Test patched kernels in staging environments replicating production TLS/BPF workloads

The record

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf: fix ktls panic with sockmap [ 2172.936997] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 2172.936999] kernel BUG at lib/iov_iter.c:629! ...... [ 2172.944996] PKRU: 55555554 [ 2172.945155] Call Trace: [ 2172.945299] <TASK> [ 2172.945428] ? die+0x36/0x90 [ 2172.945601] ? do_trap+0xdd/0x100 [ 2172.945795] ? iov_iter_revert+0x178/0x180 [ 2172.946031] ? iov_iter_revert+0x178/0x180 [ 2172.946267] ? do_error_trap+0x7d/0x110 [ 2172.946499] ? iov_iter_revert+0x178/0x180 [ 2172.946736] ? exc_invalid_op+0x50/0x70 [ 2172.946961] ? iov_iter_revert+0x178/0x180 [ 2172.947197] ? asm_exc_invalid_op+0x1a/0x20 [ 2172.947446] ? iov_iter_revert+0x178/0x180 [ 2172.947683] ? iov_iter_revert+0x5c/0x180 [ 2172.947913] tls_sw_sendmsg_locked.isra.0+0x794/0x840 [ 2172.948206] tls_sw_sendmsg+0x52/0x80 [ 2172.948420] ? inet_sendmsg+0x1f/0x70 [ 2172.948634] __sys_sendto+0x1cd/0x200 [ 2172.948848] ? find_held_lock+0x2b/0x80 [ 2172.949072] ? syscall_trace_enter+0x140/0x270 [ 2172.949330] ? __lock_release.isra.0+0x5e/0x170 [ 2172.949595] ? find_held_lock+0x2b/0x80 [ 2172.949817] ? syscall_trace_enter+0x140/0x270 [ 2172.950211] ? lockdep_hardirqs_on_prepare+0xda/0x190 [ 2172.950632] ? ktime_get_coarse_real_ts64+0xc2/0xd0 [ 2172.951036] __x64_sys_sendto+0x24/0x30 [ 2172.951382] do_syscall_64+0x90/0x170 ...... After calling bpf_exec_tx_verdict(), the size of msg_pl->sg may increase, e.g., when the BPF program executes bpf_msg_push_data(). If the BPF program sets cork_bytes and sg.size is smaller than cork_bytes, it will return -ENOSPC and attempt to roll back to the non-zero copy logic. However, during rollback, msg->msg_iter is reset, but since msg_pl->sg.size has been increased, subsequent executions will exceed the actual size of msg_iter. ''' iov_iter_revert(&msg->msg_iter, msg_pl->sg.size - orig_size); ''' The changes in this commit are based on the following considerations: 1. When cork_bytes is set, rolling back to non-zero copy logic is pointless and can directly go to zero-copy logic. 2. We can not calculate the correct number of bytes to revert msg_iter. Assume the original data is "abcdefgh" (8 bytes), and after 3 pushes by the BPF program, it becomes 11-byte data: "abc?de?fgh?". Then, we set cork_bytes to 6, which means the first 6 bytes have been processed, and the remaining 5 bytes "?fgh?" will be cached until the length meets the cork_bytes requirement. However, some data in "?fgh?" is not within 'sg->msg_iter' (but in msg_pl instead), especially the data "?" we pushed. So it doesn't seem as simple as just reverting through an offset of msg_iter. 3. For non-TLS sockets in tcp_bpf_sendmsg, when a "cork" situation occurs, the user-space send() doesn't return an error, and the returned length is the same as the input length parameter, even if some data is cached. Additionally, I saw that the current non-zero-copy logic for handling corking is written as: ''' line 1177 else if (ret != -EAGAIN) { if (ret == -ENOSPC) ret = 0; goto send_end; ''' So it's ok to just return 'copied' without error when a "cork" situation occurs.

Affected packages

Ecosystem Package Introduced Fixed
Debian:11 linux 0 No fix
Debian:12 linux 0 No fix
Debian:13 linux 0 No fix
Debian:14 linux 0 6.12.35-1
Linux Kernel 4.20.0 6.1.142
Mageia:9 kernel 0 6.6.101-1.mga9
Mageia:9 kernel-linus 0 6.6.101-1.mga9
Mageia:9 kmod-virtualbox 0 7.1.10-7.mga9
Mageia:9 kmod-xtables-addons 0 3.24-83.mga9
Mageia:9 wireless-regdb 0 20250710-1.mga9
SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP6 kernel-default 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Live Patching 12 SP5 kernel-default 0 4.12.14-122.269.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Live Patching 12 SP5 kgraft-patch-SLE12-SP5_Update_71 0 1-8.3.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP6 kernel-default 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP6 kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP6-RT_Update_14 0 1-150600.1.5.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP6 kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP6_Update_14 0 1-150600.13.3.4
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP7 kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP7-RT_Update_3 0 1-150700.1.5.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP6 kernel-64kb 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP6 kernel-default 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP6 kernel-default-base 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1.150600.12.28.4
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP6 kernel-source 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP6 kernel-zfcpdump 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
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 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP6 kernel-obs-build 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP6 kernel-source 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP6 kernel-syms 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Legacy 15 SP6 kernel-default 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Public Cloud 15 SP6 kernel-azure 0 6.4.0-150600.8.48.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Public Cloud 15 SP6 kernel-source-azure 0 6.4.0-150600.8.48.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Public Cloud 15 SP6 kernel-syms-azure 0 6.4.0-150600.8.48.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5-LTSS kernel-default 0 4.12.14-122.269.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5-LTSS kernel-source 0 4.12.14-122.269.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5-LTSS kernel-syms 0 4.12.14-122.269.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server LTSS Extended Security 12 SP5 kernel-default 0 4.12.14-122.269.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server LTSS Extended Security 12 SP5 kernel-source 0 4.12.14-122.269.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server LTSS Extended Security 12 SP5 kernel-syms 0 4.12.14-122.269.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Workstation Extension 15 SP6 kernel-default 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
SUSE:Real Time Module 15 SP6 kernel-rt 0 6.4.0-150600.10.49.1
SUSE:Real Time Module 15 SP6 kernel-rt_debug 0 6.4.0-150600.10.49.1
SUSE:Real Time Module 15 SP6 kernel-source-rt 0 6.4.0-150600.10.49.1
SUSE:Real Time Module 15 SP6 kernel-syms-rt 0 6.4.0-150600.10.49.1
SUSE:Real Time Module 15 SP7 kernel-rt 0 6.4.0-150700.7.13.1
SUSE:Real Time Module 15 SP7 kernel-source-rt 0 6.4.0-150700.7.13.1
SUSE:Real Time Module 15 SP7 kernel-syms-rt 0 6.4.0-150700.7.13.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 dtb-aarch64 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-64kb 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-azure 0 6.4.0-150600.8.48.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-debug 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-default 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-default-base 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1.150600.12.28.4
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-docs 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-kvmsmall 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-obs-build 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-obs-qa 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-rt 0 6.4.0-150600.10.49.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-rt_debug 0 6.4.0-150600.10.49.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-source 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-source-azure 0 6.4.0-150600.8.48.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-source-rt 0 6.4.0-150600.10.49.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-syms 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-syms-azure 0 6.4.0-150600.8.48.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-syms-rt 0 6.4.0-150600.10.49.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-zfcpdump 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1

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