CVE-2025-38464
- Published: 2025-07-25T16:15:32.383
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
tipc: Fix use-after-free in tipc_conn_close().
syzbot reported a null-ptr-deref in tipc_conn_close() during netns
dismantle. [0]
tipc_topsrv_stop() iterates tipc_net(net)->topsrv->conn_idr and calls
tipc_conn_close() for each tipc_conn.
The problem is that tipc_conn_close() is called after releasing the
IDR lock.
At the same time, there might be tipc_conn_recv_work() running and it
could call tipc_conn_close() for the same tipc_conn and release its
last ->kref.
Once we release the IDR lock in tipc_topsrv_stop(), there is no
guarantee that the tipc_conn is alive.
Let’s hold the ref before releasing the lock and put the ref after
tipc_conn_close() in tipc_topsrv_stop().
[0]:
BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in tipc_conn_close+0x122/0x140 net/tipc/topsrv.c:165
Read of size 8 at addr ffff888099305a08 by task kworker/u4:3/435
CPU: 0 PID: 435 Comm: kworker/u4:3 Not tainted 4.19.204-syzkaller #0
Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 01/01/2011
Workqueue: netns cleanup_net
Call Trace:
__dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:77 [inline]
dump_stack+0x1fc/0x2ef lib/dump_stack.c:118
print_address_description.cold+0x54/0x219 mm/kasan/report.c:256
kasan_report_error.cold+0x8a/0x1b9 mm/kasan/report.c:354
kasan_report mm/kasan/report.c:412 [inline]
__asan_report_load8_noabort+0x88/0x90 mm/kasan/report.c:433
tipc_conn_close+0x122/0x140 net/tipc/topsrv.c:165
tipc_topsrv_stop net/tipc/topsrv.c:701 [inline]
tipc_topsrv_exit_net+0x27b/0x5c0 net/tipc/topsrv.c:722
ops_exit_list+0xa5/0x150 net/core/net_namespace.c:153
cleanup_net+0x3b4/0x8b0 net/core/net_namespace.c:553
process_one_work+0x864/0x1570 kernel/workqueue.c:2153
worker_thread+0x64c/0x1130 kernel/workqueue.c:2296
kthread+0x33f/0x460 kernel/kthread.c:259
ret_from_fork+0x24/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:415
Allocated by task 23:
kmem_cache_alloc_trace+0x12f/0x380 mm/slab.c:3625
kmalloc include/linux/slab.h:515 [inline]
kzalloc include/linux/slab.h:709 [inline]
tipc_conn_alloc+0x43/0x4f0 net/tipc/topsrv.c:192
tipc_topsrv_accept+0x1b5/0x280 net/tipc/topsrv.c:470
process_one_work+0x864/0x1570 kernel/workqueue.c:2153
worker_thread+0x64c/0x1130 kernel/workqueue.c:2296
kthread+0x33f/0x460 kernel/kthread.c:259
ret_from_fork+0x24/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:415
Freed by task 23:
__cache_free mm/slab.c:3503 [inline]
kfree+0xcc/0x210 mm/slab.c:3822
tipc_conn_kref_release net/tipc/topsrv.c:150 [inline]
kref_put include/linux/kref.h:70 [inline]
conn_put+0x2cd/0x3a0 net/tipc/topsrv.c:155
process_one_work+0x864/0x1570 kernel/workqueue.c:2153
worker_thread+0x64c/0x1130 kernel/workqueue.c:2296
kthread+0x33f/0x460 kernel/kthread.c:259
ret_from_fork+0x24/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:415
The buggy address belongs to the object at ffff888099305a00
which belongs to the cache kmalloc-512 of size 512
The buggy address is located 8 bytes inside of
512-byte region [ffff888099305a00, ffff888099305c00)
The buggy address belongs to the page:
page:ffffea000264c140 count:1 mapcount:0 mapping:ffff88813bff0940 index:0x0
flags: 0xfff00000000100(slab)
raw: 00fff00000000100 ffffea00028b6b88 ffffea0002cd2b08 ffff88813bff0940
raw: 0000000000000000 ffff888099305000 0000000100000006 0000000000000000
page dumped because: kasan: bad access detected
Memory state around the buggy address:
ffff888099305900: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb
ffff888099305980: fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc
>ffff888099305a00: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb
^
ffff888099305a80: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb
ffff888099305b00: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb
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How to fix CVE-2025-38464
Description: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tipc: Fix use-after-free in tipc_conn_close(). syzbot reported a null-ptr-deref in tipc_conn_close() during netns dismantle. [0] tipc_topsrv_stop() iterates tipc_net(net)->topsrv->conn_idr and calls tipc_conn_close() for each tipc_conn. The problem is that tipc_conn_close() is called after releasing the IDR lock. At the same time, there might be tipc_conn_recv_work() running […]
Exploit Difficulty: HARD
⏱️ Time to exploit: > 4 hours
🛠️ Required skills: Advanced security expertise
💰 Public exploits: Rare or not public
How to Fix:
- Check if you're running the affected product
- Update to the latest patched version
- If patching is not immediately possible: restrict network exposure, apply least-privilege access
- Test the fix in a staging environment first
- Review logs for signs of exploitation
- Monitor for IOCs (Indicators of Compromise)
- Enable automatic security updates
- Set up vulnerability monitoring
- Review and harden security configurations
Exploit Difficulty Assessment
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