CVE-2025-23138 | watch_queue: fix pipe accounting mismatch

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: watch_queue: fix pipe accounting mismatch Currently, watch_queue_set_size() modifies the pipe buffers charged to user->pipe_bufs without updating the pipe->nr_accounted on the pipe itself, due to the if (!pipe_has_watch_queue()) test in pipe_resize_ring(). This means that when the pipe is ultimately freed, we decrement user->pipe_bufs by something other than what than we had charged to it, potentially leading to an underflow. This in turn can cause subsequent too_many_pipe_buffers_soft() tests to fail with -EPERM. To remedy this, explicitly account for the pipe usage in watch_queue_set_size() to match the number set via account_pipe_buffers() (It's unclear why watch_queue_set_size() does not update nr_accounted; it may be due to intentional overprovisioning in watch_queue_set_size()?)

Published: 2025-04-16 Last update: 2025-11-04 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-23138 is rated Low Risk (26.8/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.04%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2025-23138

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-05-25 0.12% 0.04% -0.07%
2 2026-02-10 0.03% 0.12% +0.09%
3 2025-11-05 0.03%

Full EPSS history (9 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-23138

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
1.8 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-23138

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-23138

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2025-23138 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 2 source packages (linux, linux-6.1), 6 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 6. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-23138
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-23138
suse medium https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-23138/
ubuntu medium CVE-2025-23138 medium priority: Ubuntu including 158 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1551 status rows across 10 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1145, released 178, ignored 149, not-affected 76, needs-triage 2, needed 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-23138

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-23138

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 5.10.210, < 5.10.236 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.15.149, < 5.15.180 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.1.76, < 6.1.134 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.6.15, < 6.6.87 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.7.3, < 6.12.23 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.13, < 6.13.11 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.14, < 6.14.2 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 11.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2025-23138

URL Tags
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/205028ebba838938d3b264dda1d0708fa7fe1ade Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2d680b988656bb556c863d8b46d9b9096842bf3d Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/471c89b7d4f58bd6082f7c1fe14d4ca15c7f1284 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/56ec918e6c86c1536870e4373e91eddd0c44245f Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6dafa27764183738dc5368b669b71e3d0d154f12 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8658c75343ed00e5e154ebbe24335f51ba8db547 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d40e3537265dea9e3c33021874437ff26dc18787 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f13abc1e8e1a3b7455511c4e122750127f6bc9b0 Patch
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/05/msg00030.html Mailing List
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/05/msg00045.html Mailing List
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