Vulnerability in Linux kernel (CVE-2025-38590)
Summary
Vulnerability in Linux kernel (CVE-2025-38590). Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure.
Original description
The description as published by the source.
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…
Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database NVD
Auto-generated summary
Assembled by SecPulse from the source data (CVSS, CWE, affected versions) using templates — no AI involved. Check the original description and references below for exact details.
A vulnerability tracked as CVE-2025-38590 has been found in Linux kernel.
Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure. CVSS score: 7.5/10.
What to do: apply the vendor's official patched release.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "Linux kernel CVE-2025-38590" on the vendor's site.
CVE-2025-38590 (Linux kernel) — CWE-401 / CVSS v3 7.5
Attack vector: remote (network-reachable) / unauthenticated / no user interaction
Plan: 1) Audit SBOM/dependencies, 2) Stage→prod upgrade, 3) Add WAF/proxy monitoring on affected endpoints, 4) Hunt IOCs in logs.
Refs: see the GHSA / vendor advisory / patched release linked on this page.
A vulnerability (CWE-401) exists in Linux kernel.
Check the vendor advisory for the affected versions of Linux kernel.
Severity: High (CVSS 7.5/10). Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure.
Update to the patched release per vendor advisory.
Until the patch is applied: disable the affected feature, apply WAF rules, or restrict access via network ACLs.
Search webserver/proxy logs for unusual request patterns matching this CVE's known IOCs. Audit SBOM/dependencies to find affected services.
Response actions
Concrete steps and command examples for SOC/SRE teams to execute in order
-
1Identify exposure identify
Audit SBOM/dependencies for affected components.資産台帳・SBOM・依存マニフェストで Linux kernel を使っているサービスとバージョンを洗い出す。
-
2Post-deployment verification verify
Confirm patched version is live in productionパッチ適用後、ステージングで PoC または同等の悪用パターンを再現して脆弱性が閉じたことを確認。本番ではアクセスログ・WAF でアラート再発が無いか継続監視。
Affected packages
Fix status by distribution
Fixed packages published by each distribution for this CVE
- BellSoft Alpaquita BELL-CVE-2025-38590 linux-lts
- Debian DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38590 linux
- Ubuntu UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38590 linux-hwe-edge
References
- advisory github.com
- advisory nvd.nist.gov
- package git.kernel.org
- web git.kernel.org
- web git.kernel.org
- web git.kernel.org
- web git.kernel.org
- web git.kernel.org