CVE-2025-38146 | net: openvswitch: Fix the dead loop of MPLS parse

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: openvswitch: Fix the dead loop of MPLS parse The unexpected MPLS packet may not end with the bottom label stack. When there are many stacks, The label count value has wrapped around. A dead loop occurs, soft lockup/CPU stuck finally. stack backtrace: UBSAN: array-index-out-of-bounds in /build/linux-0Pa0xK/linux-5.15.0/net/openvswitch/flow.c:662:26 index -1 is out of range for type '__be32 [3]' CPU: 34 PID: 0 Comm: swapper/34 Kdump: loaded Tainted: G OE 5.15.0-121-generic #131-Ubuntu Hardware name: Dell Inc. PowerEdge C6420/0JP9TF, BIOS 2.12.2 07/14/2021 Call Trace: <IRQ> show_stack+0x52/0x5c dump_stack_lvl+0x4a/0x63 dump_stack+0x10/0x16 ubsan_epilogue+0x9/0x36 __ubsan_handle_out_of_bounds.cold+0x44/0x49 key_extract_l3l4+0x82a/0x840 [openvswitch] ? kfree_skbmem+0x52/0xa0 key_extract+0x9c/0x2b0 [openvswitch] ovs_flow_key_extract+0x124/0x350 [openvswitch] ovs_vport_receive+0x61/0xd0 [openvswitch] ? kernel_init_free_pages.part.0+0x4a/0x70 ? get_page_from_freelist+0x353/0x540 netdev_port_receive+0xc4/0x180 [openvswitch] ? netdev_port_receive+0x180/0x180 [openvswitch] netdev_frame_hook+0x1f/0x40 [openvswitch] __netif_receive_skb_core.constprop.0+0x23a/0xf00 __netif_receive_skb_list_core+0xfa/0x240 netif_receive_skb_list_internal+0x18e/0x2a0 napi_complete_done+0x7a/0x1c0 bnxt_poll+0x155/0x1c0 [bnxt_en] __napi_poll+0x30/0x180 net_rx_action+0x126/0x280 ? bnxt_msix+0x67/0x80 [bnxt_en] handle_softirqs+0xda/0x2d0 irq_exit_rcu+0x96/0xc0 common_interrupt+0x8e/0xa0 </IRQ>

Published: 2025-07-03 Last update: 2025-12-18 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2025-38146 is rated Low Risk (39.6/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.08%). 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-2025-38146

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 2026-04-29 0.02% 0.08% +0.06%
2 2025-12-19 0.05% 0.02% -0.03%
3 2025-10-17 — 0.05% —

Full EPSS history (4 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-38146

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-38146

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-38146

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2025-38146 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-2025-38146
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38146
suse medium CVE-2025-38146 severity moderate: SUSE including 474 source package names (2.1.3-6.73:kernel-default-base-6.4.0-34.1.21.11, 2.1.3-7.50:kernel-default-6.4.0-34.1, …), 980 product×package rows across 198 product lines (Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/base-os-container, Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/kvm-os-container, … (198 product lines)): Fixed 627, Known Affected 231, Known Not Affected 101, First Fixed 21. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38146/
ubuntu medium CVE-2025-38146 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 169, ignored 164, not-affected 67, needed 3, needs-triage 2, pending 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-38146

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-38146

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 5.5, < 5.10.239 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.11, < 5.15.186 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.16, < 6.1.142 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.2, < 6.6.94 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.7, < 6.12.34 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.13, < 6.15.3 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 11.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2025-38146

cvelogic Threat Intelligence