CVE-2025-38273 (GCVE-0-2025-38273)
Vulnerability from cvelistv5
Published
2025-07-10 07:41
Modified
2026-08-05 12:00
Severity ?
7.8 (High) - CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: tipc: fix refcount warning in tipc_aead_encrypt syzbot reported a refcount warning [1] caused by calling get_net() on a network namespace that is being destroyed (refcount=0). This happens when a TIPC discovery timer fires during network namespace cleanup. The recently added get_net() call in commit e279024617134 ("net/tipc: fix slab-use-after-free Read in tipc_aead_encrypt_done") attempts to hold a reference to the network namespace. However, if the namespace is already being destroyed, its refcount might be zero, leading to the use-after-free warning. Replace get_net() with maybe_get_net(), which safely checks if the refcount is non-zero before incrementing it. If the namespace is being destroyed, return -ENODEV early, after releasing the bearer reference. [1]: https://lore.kernel.org/all/68342b55.a70a0220.253bc2.0091.GAE@google.com/T/#m12019cf9ae77e1954f666914640efa36d52704a2
References
Impacted products
Vendor Product Version
Linux Linux Version: d42ed4de6aba232d946d20653a70f79158a6535b
Version: f5c2c4eaaa5a8e7e0685ec031d480e588e263e59
Version: b8fcae6d2e93c54cacb8f579a77d827c1c643eb5
Version: b19fc1d0be3c3397e5968fe2627f22e7f84673b1
Version: 689a205cd968a1572ab561b0c4c2d50a10e9d3b0
Version: e279024617134c94fd3e37470156534d5f2b3472
Version: e279024617134c94fd3e37470156534d5f2b3472
Version: 4a0fddc2c0d5c28aec8c262ad4603be0bef1938c
Version: 5.10.238   ≤
Version: 5.15.185   ≤
Version: 6.1.141   ≤
Version: 6.6.93   ≤
Version: 6.12.31   ≤
Version: 6.14.9   ≤
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          "lang": "en",
          "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nnet: tipc: fix refcount warning in tipc_aead_encrypt\n\nsyzbot reported a refcount warning [1] caused by calling get_net() on\na network namespace that is being destroyed (refcount=0). This happens\nwhen a TIPC discovery timer fires during network namespace cleanup.\n\nThe recently added get_net() call in commit e279024617134 (\"net/tipc:\nfix slab-use-after-free Read in tipc_aead_encrypt_done\") attempts to\nhold a reference to the network namespace. However, if the namespace\nis already being destroyed, its refcount might be zero, leading to the\nuse-after-free warning.\n\nReplace get_net() with maybe_get_net(), which safely checks if the\nrefcount is non-zero before incrementing it. If the namespace is being\ndestroyed, return -ENODEV early, after releasing the bearer reference.\n\n[1]: https://lore.kernel.org/all/68342b55.a70a0220.253bc2.0091.GAE@google.com/T/#m12019cf9ae77e1954f666914640efa36d52704a2"
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            "baseSeverity": "HIGH",
            "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
            "version": "3.1"
          },
          "scenarios": [
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              "lang": "en",
              "value": "AV:L - The trigger is a purely local sequence \u2014 create a network namespace, enable a TIPC bearer, install an AEAD key via TIPC genetlink, then tear the namespace down \u2014 with no remote peer or packet required. `init_net`\u0027s refcount never reaches zero, so the bug is only reachable through locally-driven netns destruction.\nAC:L - The attacker controls both sides of the race: they start the discovery timer (which re-arms at least every second while the bearer is up) and they choose when to destroy the namespace, and `cleanup_net()`\u0027s window (batched teardown, `pernet_ops_rwsem`, `rcu_barrier()`) routinely exceeds that interval. The sequence is scriptable in a tight loop, and unlike the parent UAF no cryptd/SIMD fallback is needed since `get_net()` runs on every encrypt.\nPR:L - TIPC bearer-enable and key-set are gated on CAP_NET_ADMIN, but every op in net/tipc/netlink.c uses `GENL_UNS_ADMIN_PERM`, which is satisfied by CAP_NET_ADMIN in a user-namespace-owned netns \u2014 an unprivileged user reaches all of it via `unshare -Urn`. No real root in the initial namespace is required.\nUI:N - The entire sequence is performed by the attacker\u0027s own process; the discovery timer fires on its own from softirq context. No victim action or interaction of any kind is involved.\nS:U - The corrupted refcount, the freed `tipc_crypto`, and the freed `struct net` all belong to the kernel\u0027s own security authority. There is no crossing of a VM, IOMMU, or sandbox boundary.\nC:H - The failed reference acquisition re-opens the slab use-after-free it was meant to close: `tipc_aead_encrypt_done()` runs from the cryptd workqueue against a `tipc_crypto` already freed by `tipc_crypto_stop()` and a `struct net` freed by `cleanup_net()`, reading `tx-\u003estats`, `b-\u003eup`, and `tx_ctx` out of reallocated slab memory. A UAF read on attacker-groomable heap is treated as arbitrary kernel memory disclosure.\nI:H - The same window yields write primitives on freed memory \u2014 `this_cpu_inc(tx-\u003estats-\u003estat[...])` through a freed per-CPU pointer and `put_net()`\u0027s atomic decrement on the freed `struct net` \u2014 which is heap-sprayable into an attacker-chosen object. Additionally the refcount is force-set to `REFCOUNT_SATURATED`, corrupting namespace lifetime accounting.\nA:H - The immediate result is a `WARN_ONCE` splat, which is an outright kernel panic on the many hardened, cloud, and syzkaller-style deployments running `panic_on_warn=1`, and the subsequent use-after-free reliably oopses even when not weaponized. The whole sequence is repeatable in a loop by an unprivileged local user."
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        "shortName": "Linux"
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          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/445d59025d76d0638b03110f8791d5b89ed5162d"
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        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e0b11227c4e8eb4bdf1b86aa8f0f3abb24e0f029"
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        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/307391e8fe70401a6d39ecc9978e13c2c0cdf81f"
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        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/acab7ca5ff19889b80a8ee7dec220ee1a96dede9"
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        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f29ccaa07cf3d35990f4d25028cc55470d29372b"
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  "cveMetadata": {
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    "assignerShortName": "Linux",
    "cveId": "CVE-2025-38273",
    "datePublished": "2025-07-10T07:41:54.415Z",
    "dateReserved": "2025-04-16T04:51:23.998Z",
    "dateUpdated": "2026-08-05T12:00:54.344Z",
    "state": "PUBLISHED"
  },
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}


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