Vulnerability in Kernel (CVE-2025-38678)
Summary
Vulnerability in Kernel (CVE-2025-38678). Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover. Mitigation: upgrade to 5.10.247, 5.15.197, 6.1.159, 6.6.117, 6.12.59, 6.16.2 or later.
Original description
The description as published by the source.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
netfilter: nf_tables: reject duplicate device on updates
A chain/flowtable update with duplicated devices in the same batch is
possible. Unfortunately, netdev event path only removes the first
device that is found, leaving unregistered the hook of the duplicated
device.
Check if a duplicated device exists in the transaction batch, bail out
with EEXIST in such case.
WARNING is hit when unregistering the hook:
[49042.221275] WARNING: CPU: 4 PID: 8425 at net/netfilter/core.c:340 nf_hook_entry_head+0xaa/0x150
[49042.221375] CPU: 4 UID: 0 PID: 8425 Comm: nft Tainted: G S 6.16.0+ #170 PREEMPT(full)
[...]
[49042.221382] RIP: 0010:nf_hook_entry_head+0xaa/0x150
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-2025-38678 has been found in Kernel.
Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover. CVSS score: 7.8/10.
What to do: upgrade Kernel to 5.10.247, 5.15.197, 6.1.159, 6.6.117, 6.12.59, 6.16.2 or later.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "Kernel CVE-2025-38678" on the vendor's site.
CVE-2025-38678 (Kernel) — CVSS v3 7.8
Attack vector: local / no user interaction
Patched: 5.10.247, 5.15.197, 6.1.159, 6.6.117, 6.12.59, 6.16.2 — apply immediately
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 (unclassified) exists in Kernel.
Check the vendor advisory for the affected versions of Kernel.
Severity: High (CVSS 7.8/10). Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover.
Update to 5.10.247, 5.15.197, 6.1.159, 6.6.117, 6.12.59, 6.16.2.
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. Run grep -r 'Kernel' . against your dependency files (package-lock.json, requirements.txt, go.sum) to find affected services.
Response actions
Concrete steps and command examples for SOC/SRE teams to execute in order
-
1Identify exposure identify
grep -r 'Kernel' . | grep -v node_modulesリポジトリと本番環境の依存ファイル (package-lock.json / requirements.txt / go.sum / Gemfile.lock 等) で
Kernelを grep し、稼働しているサービス・バージョンを把握する。 -
2Apply patch patch
Upgrade Kernel to 5.10.247, 5.15.197, 6.1.159, 6.6.117, 6.12.59, 6.16.2ステージング環境で 5.10.247, 5.15.197, 6.1.159, 6.6.117, 6.12.59, 6.16.2 に上げて回帰テスト → 本番反映。回帰テストはアプリの主要ハッピーパスを含めること。
-
3Post-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-2025-38678 linux-lts Fixed in: 6.1.159-r0
- Debian DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38678 linux Fixed in: 5.10.247-1
- Ubuntu UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38678 linux-hwe-edge
References
- advisory github.com
- advisory nvd.nist.gov
- package git.kernel.org
- patch git.kernel.org
- patch git.kernel.org
- patch git.kernel.org
- patch git.kernel.org
- web git.kernel.org
- web git.kernel.org
- web git.kernel.org