CVE-2025-38150 | af_packet: move notifier's packet_dev_mc out of rcu critical section

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: af_packet: move notifier's packet_dev_mc out of rcu critical section Syzkaller reports the following issue: BUG: sleeping function called from invalid context at kernel/locking/mutex.c:578 __mutex_lock+0x106/0xe80 kernel/locking/mutex.c:746 team_change_rx_flags+0x38/0x220 drivers/net/team/team_core.c:1781 dev_change_rx_flags net/core/dev.c:9145 [inline] __dev_set_promiscuity+0x3f8/0x590 net/core/dev.c:9189 netif_set_promiscuity+0x50/0xe0 net/core/dev.c:9201 dev_set_promiscuity+0x126/0x260 net/core/dev_api.c:286 packet_dev_mc net/packet/af_packet.c:3698 [inline] packet_dev_mclist_delete net/packet/af_packet.c:3722 [inline] packet_notifier+0x292/0xa60 net/packet/af_packet.c:4247 notifier_call_chain+0x1b3/0x3e0 kernel/notifier.c:85 call_netdevice_notifiers_extack net/core/dev.c:2214 [inline] call_netdevice_notifiers net/core/dev.c:2228 [inline] unregister_netdevice_many_notify+0x15d8/0x2330 net/core/dev.c:11972 rtnl_delete_link net/core/rtnetlink.c:3522 [inline] rtnl_dellink+0x488/0x710 net/core/rtnetlink.c:3564 rtnetlink_rcv_msg+0x7cf/0xb70 net/core/rtnetlink.c:6955 netlink_rcv_skb+0x219/0x490 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2534 Calling `PACKET_ADD_MEMBERSHIP` on an ops-locked device can trigger the `NETDEV_UNREGISTER` notifier, which may require disabling promiscuous and/or allmulti mode. Both of these operations require acquiring the netdev instance lock. Move the call to `packet_dev_mc` outside of the RCU critical section. The `mclist` modifications (add, del, flush, unregister) are protected by the RTNL, not the RCU. The RCU only protects the `sklist` and its associated `sks`. The delayed operation on the `mclist` entry remains within the RTNL.

Published: 2025-07-03 Last update: 2025-11-20 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-38150 is rated Low Risk (28.2/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.06%). 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-2025-38150

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% 0.06% +0.04%
2 2025-07-03 0.02%

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-38150

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-2025-38150

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-38150

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2025-38150 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-38150
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38150
suse medium CVE-2025-38150 severity moderate: SUSE including 26 source package names (cluster-md-kmp-default, dlm-kmp-default, …), 281 product×package rows across 55 product lines (SLES-LTSS-TERADATA 15 SP2, SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7, … (55 product lines)): Known Not Affected 281. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38150/
ubuntu medium CVE-2025-38150 medium priority: Ubuntu including 144 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1289 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, oracular, plucky, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 925, ignored 151, not-affected 136, released 77. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-38150

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-38150

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 6.15, < 6.15.3 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2025-38150

cvelogic Threat Intelligence