Skip to main content

Linux Kernel CVE-2025-38465

MEDIUM
Memory Leak (CWE-401)
2025-07-25 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
Information Disclosure Linux Debian Linux Red Hat Suse
5.5
CVSS 3.1 · NVD
Share

Severity by source

NVD PRIMARY
5.5 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
SUSE
MEDIUM
qualitative
Red Hat
5.5 MEDIUM
qualitative

Primary rating from NVD.

CVSS VectorNVD

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

Lifecycle Timeline

2
Analysis Generated
May 12, 2026 - 13:32 vuln.today
CVE Published
Jul 25, 2025 - 16:15 nvd
MEDIUM 5.5

DescriptionCVE.org

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

netlink: Fix wraparounds of sk->sk_rmem_alloc.

Netlink has this pattern in some places

if (atomic_read(&sk->sk_rmem_alloc) > sk->sk_rcvbuf) atomic_add(skb->truesize, &sk->sk_rmem_alloc);

, which has the same problem fixed by commit 5a465a0da13e ("udp: Fix multiple wraparounds of sk->sk_rmem_alloc.").

For example, if we set INT_MAX to SO_RCVBUFFORCE, the condition is always false as the two operands are of int.

Then, a single socket can eat as many skb as possible until OOM happens, and we can see multiple wraparounds of sk->sk_rmem_alloc.

Let's fix it by using atomic_add_return() and comparing the two variables as unsigned int.

Before: [root@fedora ~]

ss -f netlink

Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address:Port Peer Address:Port -1668710080 0 rtnl:nl_wraparound/293 *

After: [root@fedora ~]

ss -f netlink

Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address:Port Peer Address:Port 2147483072 0 rtnl:nl_wraparound/290 * ^ `--- INT_MAX - 576

AnalysisAI

Integer wraparound in Linux kernel netlink socket receive buffer accounting allows local authenticated attackers to exhaust kernel memory by bypassing receive buffer limits via integer overflow in sk_rmem_alloc comparison. An attacker with local access can set SO_RCVBUFFORCE to INT_MAX, causing the receive buffer check to always evaluate false and permitting unlimited socket buffer allocation until out-of-memory conditions occur. CVSS 5.5 indicates local denial of service with potential system-wide impact; no active exploitation confirmed but vulnerability affects all Linux distributions.

Technical ContextAI

The vulnerability exists in netlink socket receive buffer accounting, specifically in the pattern used to enforce SO_RCVBUF limits. The kernel uses atomic_read(&sk->sk_rmem_alloc) to track allocated receive buffer memory and compares it against sk->sk_rcvbuf to prevent excessive allocation. When sk->sk_rcvbuf is set to INT_MAX via SO_RCVBUFFORCE socket option, both operands are compared as signed 32-bit integers. Since atomic_read() returns a signed int, legitimate buffer allocations can cause wraparound; once sk_rmem_alloc wraps to a negative value, it always remains less than INT_MAX, making the bounds check ineffective. The root cause is CWE-401 (improper resource validation) combined with integer signedness mismatch. The fix changes the comparison to use unsigned 32-bit integer comparison and atomic_add_return() to atomically validate bounds before allocation, mirroring the earlier UDP fix in commit 5a465a0da13e.

RemediationAI

Apply vendor-released patches from stable kernel branches via git.kernel.org (commits 4b8e18af7bea92f8b7fb92d40aeae729209db250, 55baecb9eb90238f60a8350660d6762046ebd3bd, 76602d8e13864524382b0687dc32cd8f19164d5a, and others listed in references). Upgrade to patched kernel versions released by your distribution (e.g., Debian LTS via debian-lts-announce). As a compensating control pending kernel update, restrict unprivileged user netlink socket access by tightening netlink UAPI permissions or disabling netlink sockets for unprivileged users if workload permits. However, this workaround is impractical for systems requiring user-level netlink access (e.g., network management, container runtimes). The primary mitigation is kernel update; no upstream suppression flag or boot parameter is available. Note that this vulnerability requires PR:L (local privilege or authorized user), so it does not affect systems with strict user access controls.

More in Debian Linux

View all
CVE-2025-49113 CRITICAL POC
9.9 Jun 02

Roundcube Webmail contains a critical PHP object deserialization vulnerability (CVE-2025-49113, CVSS 9.9) that allows au
CVE-2026-24061 CRITICAL POC
9.8 Jan 21

GNU Inetutils telnetd through version 2.7 contains a critical authentication bypass that allows remote attackers to gain
CVE-2025-32433 CRITICAL POC
10.0 Apr 16

Erlang/OTP SSH server allows unauthenticated remote code execution by exploiting a flaw in SSH protocol message handling
CVE-2017-11610 HIGH POC
8.8 Aug 23

The XML-RPC server in supervisor before 3.0.1, 3.1.x before 3.1.4, 3.2.x before 3.2.4, and 3.3.x before 3.3.3 allows rem
CVE-2015-0235 CRITICAL POC
10.0 Jan 28

Heap-based buffer overflow in the __nss_hostname_digits_dots function in glibc 2.2, and other 2.x versions before 2.18,

CVE-2014-3704 HIGH POC
7.5 Oct 16

The expandArguments function in the database abstraction API in Drupal core 7.x before 7.32 does not properly construct

CVE-2013-0156 HIGH POC
7.5 Jan 13

active_support/core_ext/hash/conversions.rb in Ruby on Rails before 2.3.15, 3.0.x before 3.0.19, 3.1.x before 3.1.10, an
CVE-2017-12629 CRITICAL POC
9.8 Oct 14

Remote code execution occurs in Apache Solr before 7.1 with Apache Lucene before 7.1 by exploiting XXE in conjunction wi
CVE-2017-14492 CRITICAL POC
9.8 Oct 03

Heap-based buffer overflow in dnsmasq before 2.78 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) or execut
CVE-2014-2323 CRITICAL POC
9.8 Mar 14

SQL injection vulnerability in mod_mysql_vhost.c in lighttpd before 1.4.35 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary

CVE-2016-2098 HIGH POC
7.3 Apr 07

Action Pack in Ruby on Rails before 3.2.22.2, 4.x before 4.1.14.2, and 4.2.x before 4.2.5.2 allows remote attackers to e
CVE-2016-6662 CRITICAL POC
9.8 Sep 20

Oracle MySQL through 5.5.52, 5.6.x through 5.6.33, and 5.7.x through 5.7.15; MariaDB before 5.5.51, 10.0.x before 10.0.2

Same weakness CWE-401 – Memory Leak

View all
CVE-2016-4232 HIGH POC
7.5
CVE-2024-25450 HIGH POC
8.8
CVE-2023-33718 HIGH POC
8.8
CVE-2019-6128 HIGH POC
8.8
CVE-2023-34451 HIGH POC
8.2
CVE-2023-41484 HIGH POC
8.1
CVE-2023-23145 HIGH POC
7.8
CVE-2022-35858 HIGH POC
7.8

Same technique Information Disclosure

View all
CVE-2013-2251 CRITICAL POC
9.8
CVE-2017-5638 CRITICAL POC
9.8
CVE-2025-24813 CRITICAL POC
9.8
CVE-2015-1701 HIGH POC
7.8
CVE-2017-0147 HIGH POC
7.5
CVE-2014-6324 HIGH POC
8.8
CVE-2023-7028 CRITICAL POC
10.0
CVE-2017-0213 HIGH POC
7.3

Vendor StatusVendor

SUSE

Severity: Medium
Product Status
Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/base-os-container:2.1.3-7.57 Container suse/sl-micro/6.1/base-os-container:2.2.1-5.40 Image SL-Micro Image SL-Micro-Azure Image SL-Micro-BYOS-Azure Image SL-Micro-BYOS-EC2 Image SL-Micro-BYOS-GCE Image SL-Micro-EC2 Image SLE-Micro Image SLE-Micro-Azure Image SLE-Micro-BYOS Image SLE-Micro-BYOS-Azure Image SLE-Micro-BYOS-EC2 Image SLE-Micro-BYOS-GCE Image SLE-Micro-EC2 Image SLE-Micro-GCE Image SUSE-Multi-Linux-Manager-Proxy-BYOS-Azure Image SUSE-Multi-Linux-Manager-Proxy-BYOS-EC2 Image SUSE-Multi-Linux-Manager-Proxy-BYOS-GCE Image SUSE-Multi-Linux-Manager-Server-Azure-llc Image SUSE-Multi-Linux-Manager-Server-Azure-ltd Image SUSE-Multi-Linux-Manager-Server-BYOS-Azure Image SUSE-Multi-Linux-Manager-Server-BYOS-EC2 Image SUSE-Multi-Linux-Manager-Server-BYOS-GCE Image SUSE-Multi-Linux-Manager-Server-EC2-llc Image SUSE-Multi-Linux-Manager-Server-EC2-ltd Affected
Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/kvm-os-container:2.1.3-6.80 Container suse/sl-micro/6.1/kvm-os-container:2.2.1-5.41 Affected
Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/rt-os-container:2.1.3-7.95 Container suse/sl-micro/6.1/rt-os-container:2.2.1-5.34 Affected
Image SLES-Azure-3P Image SLES-Azure-Basic Image SLES-Azure-Standard Image SLES-BYOS-Azure Image SLES-BYOS-EC2 Image SLES-BYOS-GCE Image SLES-CHOST-BYOS-Aliyun Image SLES-CHOST-BYOS-Azure Image SLES-CHOST-BYOS-EC2 Image SLES-CHOST-BYOS-GCE Image SLES-CHOST-BYOS-GDC Image SLES-CHOST-BYOS-SAP-CCloud Image SLES-EC2 Image SLES-GCE Image SLES-GCE-3P Image SLES-Hardened-BYOS-Azure Image SLES-Hardened-BYOS-EC2 Image SLES-Hardened-BYOS-GCE Image SLES-SAPCAL-Azure Image SLES-SAPCAL-EC2 Image SLES-SAPCAL-GCE Affected
Image SLES-SAP-Azure Image SLES-SAP-Azure-3P Image SLES-SAP-BYOS-Azure Image SLES-SAP-BYOS-EC2 Image SLES-SAP-BYOS-GCE Image SLES-SAP-EC2 Image SLES-SAP-GCE Image SLES-SAP-GCE-3P Affected

Share

CVE-2025-38465 vulnerability details – vuln.today
Back

This site uses cookies essential for authentication and security. No tracking or analytics cookies are used. Privacy Policy