CVE-2025-38590

  • Published: 2025-08-19T17:15:36.653

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 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:

? 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

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How to fix CVE-2025-38590

CVE-2025-38590 is a unknown severity vulnerability affecting the affected product.

Description: 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 […]

Exploit Difficulty: HARD
⏱️ Time to exploit: > 4 hours
🛠️ Required skills: Advanced security expertise
💰 Public exploits: Rare or not public

How to Fix:

1 Identify affected systems

- Check if you're running the affected product

2 Immediate actions

- Update to the latest patched version
- If patching is not immediately possible: restrict network exposure, apply least-privilege access

3 Verification

- Test the fix in a staging environment first
- Review logs for signs of exploitation
- Monitor for IOCs (Indicators of Compromise)

4 Long-term prevention

- Enable automatic security updates
- Set up vulnerability monitoring
- Review and harden security configurations

Exploit Difficulty Assessment

HARD
⏱️ Time to Exploit: > 4 hours
🛠️ Skills Required: Advanced security expertise
💰 Public Exploits: Rare or not public

Vulnerability Timeline

Aug 19, 2025
Vulnerability Published

CVE details first published to NVD database

Nov 12, 2025
Imported to Database

Added to this CVE tracking system

Detection Rules & IOCs

No specific detection rules generated for this vulnerability type.

No vendor/product data available.