CVE-2025-38590
High · 7.5CVSS
7.5
EPSS
0.4%
Published
Aug 19, 2025
CISA due date
—
Cloudanix analysis
A bug in the Linux network driver can crash the whole computer when handling certain encrypted network traffic, interrupting services until the system is restarted or updated.
- Exploitation
- Remote Unauthenticated
- Attacker needs
- None
- Complexity
- Moderate
- Impact
- Denial Of Service
- Component
- OS kernel
- Class
- Use After Free
- Remediation
- Patch
- Effort
- Medium
- Patch risk
- Low
What it actually does
Kernel oops when hardware-decrypted packet lookup in xarray finds no xfrm state; secpath extension is left on skb with len==0, so __xfrm_policy_check dereferences an invalid xvec pointer and crashes.
Why it matters to the business
Network traffic processing on affected Linux systems using mlx5 hardware offload and xfrm can trigger immediate kernel panic, causing denial of service, loss of connectivity, and unplanned reboots; high prevalence in container and cloud environments increases blast radius.
How an attack unfolds
An attacker sends IPsec-protected UDP traffic that mlx5 decrypts in hardware; concurrent freeing of the xfrm state (via VMSCAPE-style or similar container escape primitives) causes the subsequent lookup to fail; the unremoved secpath then leads to an invalid pointer dereference during policy checks in the receive path.
How to fix it
Update the Linux kernel to commit 314f568b84b01f6eac1e4313ca47f9ade4349443 or later stable releases that contain the fix; for Chainguard openjdk-17-openj9 packages upgrade to 0.53.0-r0 or newer; rebuild and reboot systems after applying the patch.
How to confirm the fix worked
Confirm the mlx5e secpath removal logic is present in net/mlx5e/en/xfrm.c and that __xfrm_policy_check is never reached with sp->len==0; run reproducer packets while monitoring for the original oops signature; verify kernel version contains the cited commit.
Typical attack path
- Send crafted encrypted packet targeting mlx5e receive path
- Trigger race that frees the referenced xfrm state
- Hardware returns stale identifier; lookup fails and secpath is not stripped
- udp_queue_rcv_one_skb calls __xfrm_policy_check on zero-length secpath
- Dereference of invalid xso pointer produces kernel oops and panic
How to detect it
Search kernel logs for 'unable to handle page fault' combined with RIP __xfrm_policy_check and mlx5e_poll_rx_cq; inspect netif_receive_skb paths for UDP packets arriving after hardware decryption; correlate with xfrm state free events in the same timeframe.
- RIP: __xfrm_policy_check+0x61a/0xa30
- CR2: ffffffff000002c8
- Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP
- mlx5e_handle_rx_cqe_mpwrq
- sp->len becoming 0 after xfrm state lookup failure
What your security team should do
- Prioritize patching of all mlx5-based hosts within the CISA-style remediation window
- Enable kernel panic-on-oops and watchdog timers to limit blast radius
- Add the provided detection_iocs to SIEM rules for post-patch hunting
- Audit container runtimes and xfrm usage for concurrent state lifetime issues
The record
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/mlx5e: Remove skb secpath if xfrm state is not found Hardware returns a unique identifier for a decrypted packet's xfrm state, this state is looked up in an xarray. However, the state might have been freed by the time of this lookup. Currently, if the state is not found, only a counter is incremented. The secpath (sp) extension on the skb is not removed, resulting in sp->len becoming 0. Subsequently, functions like __xfrm_policy_check() attempt to access fields such as xfrm_input_state(skb)->xso.type (which dereferences sp->xvec[sp->len - 1]) without first validating sp->len. This leads to a crash when dereferencing an invalid state pointer. This patch prevents the crash by explicitly removing the secpath extension from the skb if the xfrm state is not found after hardware decryption. This ensures downstream functions do not operate on a zero-length secpath. BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: ffffffff000002c8 #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page PGD 282e067 P4D 282e067 PUD 0 Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP CPU: 12 UID: 0 PID: 0 Comm: swapper/12 Not tainted 6.15.0-rc7_for_upstream_min_debug_2025_05_27_22_44 #1 NONE Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS rel-1.13.0-0-gf21b5a4aeb02-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:__xfrm_policy_check+0x61a/0xa30 Code: b6 77 7f 83 e6 02 74 14 4d 8b af d8 00 00 00 41 0f b6 45 05 c1 e0 03 48 98 49 01 c5 41 8b 45 00 83 e8 01 48 98 49 8b 44 c5 10 <0f> b6 80 c8 02 00 00 83 e0 0c 3c 04 0f 84 0c 02 00 00 31 ff 80 fa RSP: 0018:ffff88885fb04918 EFLAGS: 00010297 RAX: ffffffff00000000 RBX: 0000000000000002 RCX: 0000000000000000 RDX: 0000000000000002 RSI: 0000000000000002 RDI: 0000000000000000 RBP: ffffffff8311af80 R08: 0000000000000020 R09: 00000000c2eda353 R10: ffff88812be2bbc8 R11: 000000001faab533 R12: ffff88885fb049c8 R13: ffff88812be2bbc8 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: ffff88811896ae00 FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff8888dca82000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: ffffffff000002c8 CR3: 0000000243050002 CR4: 0000000000372eb0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 Call Trace: <IRQ> ? try_to_wake_up+0x108/0x4c0 ? udp4_lib_lookup2+0xbe/0x150 ? udp_lib_lport_inuse+0x100/0x100 ? __udp4_lib_lookup+0x2b0/0x410 __xfrm_policy_check2.constprop.0+0x11e/0x130 udp_queue_rcv_one_skb+0x1d/0x530 udp_unicast_rcv_skb+0x76/0x90 __udp4_lib_rcv+0xa64/0xe90 ip_protocol_deliver_rcu+0x20/0x130 ip_local_deliver_finish+0x75/0xa0 ip_local_deliver+0xc1/0xd0 ? ip_protocol_deliver_rcu+0x130/0x130 ip_sublist_rcv+0x1f9/0x240 ? ip_rcv_finish_core+0x430/0x430 ip_list_rcv+0xfc/0x130 __netif_receive_skb_list_core+0x181/0x1e0 netif_receive_skb_list_internal+0x200/0x360 ? mlx5e_build_rx_skb+0x1bc/0xda0 [mlx5_core] gro_receive_skb+0xfd/0x210 mlx5e_handle_rx_cqe_mpwrq+0x141/0x280 [mlx5_core] mlx5e_poll_rx_cq+0xcc/0x8e0 [mlx5_core] ? mlx5e_handle_rx_dim+0x91/0xd0 [mlx5_core] mlx5e_napi_poll+0x114/0xab0 [mlx5_core] __napi_poll+0x25/0x170 net_rx_action+0x32d/0x3a0 ? mlx5_eq_comp_int+0x8d/0x280 [mlx5_core] ? notifier_call_chain+0x33/0xa0 handle_softirqs+0xda/0x250 irq_exit_rcu+0x6d/0xc0 common_interrupt+0x81/0xa0 </IRQ>
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 | No fix |
| Debian:14 | linux | 0 | 6.16.3-1 |
| Linux | Kernel | 5.9.0 | 6.6.102 |
| Mageia:9 | kernel | 0 | 6.6.105-1.mga9 |
| Mageia:9 | kernel-linus | 0 | 6.6.105-1.mga9 |
| Mageia:9 | kmod-virtualbox | 0 | 7.1.10-10.mga9 |
| Mageia:9 | kmod-xtables-addons | 0 | 3.24-86.mga9 |
| Mageia:9 | mageia-repos | 0 | 9-4.mga9 |
| Mageia:9 | meta-task | 0 | 9-4.mga9 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP6 | kernel-default | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.73.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP6 | kernel-default | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.73.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP6 | kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP6-RT_Update_16 | 0 | 1-150600.1.3.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP6 | kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP6_Update_16 | 0 | 1-150600.13.3.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP7 | kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP7-RT_Update_5 | 0 | 1-150700.1.3.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP6 | kernel-64kb | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.73.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP6 | kernel-default | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.73.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP6 | kernel-default-base | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.73.1.150600.12.32.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP6 | kernel-source | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.73.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP6 | kernel-zfcpdump | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.73.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP6 | kernel-docs | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.73.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP6 | kernel-obs-build | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.73.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP6 | kernel-source | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.73.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP6 | kernel-syms | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.73.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Legacy 15 SP6 | kernel-default | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.73.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Public Cloud 15 SP6 | kernel-azure | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.8.52.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Public Cloud 15 SP6 | kernel-source-azure | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.8.52.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Public Cloud 15 SP6 | kernel-syms-azure | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.8.52.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Workstation Extension 15 SP6 | kernel-default | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.73.1 |
| SUSE:Real Time Module 15 SP6 | kernel-rt | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.10.55.1 |
| SUSE:Real Time Module 15 SP6 | kernel-rt_debug | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.10.55.1 |
| SUSE:Real Time Module 15 SP6 | kernel-source-rt | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.10.55.1 |
| SUSE:Real Time Module 15 SP6 | kernel-syms-rt | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.10.55.1 |
| SUSE:Real Time Module 15 SP7 | kernel-rt | 0 | 6.4.0-150700.7.19.1 |
| SUSE:Real Time Module 15 SP7 | kernel-source-rt | 0 | 6.4.0-150700.7.19.1 |
| SUSE:Real Time Module 15 SP7 | kernel-syms-rt | 0 | 6.4.0-150700.7.19.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 15.6 | dtb-aarch64 | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.73.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 15.6 | kernel-64kb | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.73.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 15.6 | kernel-azure | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.8.52.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 15.6 | kernel-debug | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.73.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 15.6 | kernel-default | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.73.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 15.6 | kernel-default-base | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.73.1.150600.12.32.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 15.6 | kernel-docs | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.73.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 15.6 | kernel-kvmsmall | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.73.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 15.6 | kernel-obs-build | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.73.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 15.6 | kernel-obs-qa | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.73.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 15.6 | kernel-rt | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.10.55.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 15.6 | kernel-rt_debug | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.10.55.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 15.6 | kernel-source | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.73.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 15.6 | kernel-source-azure | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.8.52.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 15.6 | kernel-source-rt | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.10.55.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 15.6 | kernel-syms | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.73.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 15.6 | kernel-syms-azure | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.8.52.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 15.6 | kernel-syms-rt | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.10.55.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 15.6 | kernel-zfcpdump | 0 | 6.4.0-150600.23.73.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 16.0 | dtb-aarch64 | 0 | 6.12.0-160000.26.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 16.0 | kernel-64kb | 0 | 6.12.0-160000.26.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 16.0 | kernel-azure | 0 | 6.12.0-160000.26.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 16.0 | kernel-default | 0 | 6.12.0-160000.26.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 16.0 | kernel-default-base | 0 | 6.12.0-160000.26.1.160000.2.7 |
| openSUSE:Leap 16.0 | kernel-docs | 0 | 6.12.0-160000.26.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 16.0 | kernel-kvmsmall | 0 | 6.12.0-160000.26.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 16.0 | kernel-obs-build | 0 | 6.12.0-160000.26.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 16.0 | kernel-obs-qa | 0 | 6.12.0-160000.26.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 16.0 | kernel-rt | 0 | 6.12.0-160000.26.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 16.0 | kernel-source | 0 | 6.12.0-160000.26.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 16.0 | kernel-syms | 0 | 6.12.0-160000.26.1 |
| openSUSE:Leap 16.0 | kernel-zfcpdump | 0 | 6.12.0-160000.26.1 |
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