CVE-2025-38248 | bridge: mcast: Fix use-after-free during router port configuration

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bridge: mcast: Fix use-after-free during router port configuration The bridge maintains a global list of ports behind which a multicast router resides. The list is consulted during forwarding to ensure multicast packets are forwarded to these ports even if the ports are not member in the matching MDB entry. When per-VLAN multicast snooping is enabled, the per-port multicast context is disabled on each port and the port is removed from the global router port list: # ip link add name br1 up type bridge vlan_filtering 1 mcast_snooping 1 # ip link add name dummy1 up master br1 type dummy # ip link set dev dummy1 type bridge_slave mcast_router 2 $ bridge -d mdb show | grep router router ports on br1: dummy1 # ip link set dev br1 type bridge mcast_vlan_snooping 1 $ bridge -d mdb show | grep router However, the port can be re-added to the global list even when per-VLAN multicast snooping is enabled: # ip link set dev dummy1 type bridge_slave mcast_router 0 # ip link set dev dummy1 type bridge_slave mcast_router 2 $ bridge -d mdb show | grep router router ports on br1: dummy1 Since commit 4b30ae9adb04 ("net: bridge: mcast: re-implement br_multicast_{enable, disable}_port functions"), when per-VLAN multicast snooping is enabled, multicast disablement on a port will disable the per-{port, VLAN} multicast contexts and not the per-port one. As a result, a port will remain in the global router port list even after it is deleted. This will lead to a use-after-free [1] when the list is traversed (when adding a new port to the list, for example): # ip link del dev dummy1 # ip link add name dummy2 up master br1 type dummy # ip link set dev dummy2 type bridge_slave mcast_router 2 Similarly, stale entries can also be found in the per-VLAN router port list. When per-VLAN multicast snooping is disabled, the per-{port, VLAN} contexts are disabled on each port and the port is removed from the per-VLAN router port list: # ip link add name br1 up type bridge vlan_filtering 1 mcast_snooping 1 mcast_vlan_snooping 1 # ip link add name dummy1 up master br1 type dummy # bridge vlan add vid 2 dev dummy1 # bridge vlan global set vid 2 dev br1 mcast_snooping 1 # bridge vlan set vid 2 dev dummy1 mcast_router 2 $ bridge vlan global show dev br1 vid 2 | grep router router ports: dummy1 # ip link set dev br1 type bridge mcast_vlan_snooping 0 $ bridge vlan global show dev br1 vid 2 | grep router However, the port can be re-added to the per-VLAN list even when per-VLAN multicast snooping is disabled: # bridge vlan set vid 2 dev dummy1 mcast_router 0 # bridge vlan set vid 2 dev dummy1 mcast_router 2 $ bridge vlan global show dev br1 vid 2 | grep router router ports: dummy1 When the VLAN is deleted from the port, the per-{port, VLAN} multicast context will not be disabled since multicast snooping is not enabled on the VLAN. As a result, the port will remain in the per-VLAN router port list even after it is no longer member in the VLAN. This will lead to a use-after-free [2] when the list is traversed (when adding a new port to the list, for example): # ip link add name dummy2 up master br1 type dummy # bridge vlan add vid 2 dev dummy2 # bridge vlan del vid 2 dev dummy1 # bridge vlan set vid 2 dev dummy2 mcast_router 2 Fix these issues by removing the port from the relevant (global or per-VLAN) router port list in br_multicast_port_ctx_deinit(). The function is invoked during port deletion with the per-port multicast context and during VLAN deletion with the per-{port, VLAN} multicast context. Note that deleting the multicast router timer is not enough as it only takes care of the temporary multicast router states (1 or 3) and not the permanent one (2). [1] BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in br_multicast_add_router.part.0+0x3f1/0x560 Write of size 8 at addr ffff888004a67328 by task ip/384 [...] Call Trace: <TASK> dump_stack ---truncated---

Published: 2025-07-09 Last update: 2026-03-17 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-38248 is rated Low Risk (32.3/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.02%). 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-2025-38248

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 2025-07-09 0.02%

Full EPSS history (1 record total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-38248

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-2025-38248

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-38248

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2025-38248 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 4, open 1. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-38248
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38248
suse medium CVE-2025-38248 severity moderate: SUSE including 453 source package names (2.1.3-6.67:kernel-default-base-6.4.0-32.1.21.10, 2.1.3-7.44:kernel-default-6.4.0-32.1, …), 933 product×package rows across 187 product lines (Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/base-os-container, Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/kvm-os-container, … (187 product lines)): Fixed 496, Known Affected 231, Known Not Affected 206. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38248/
ubuntu medium CVE-2025-38248 medium priority: Ubuntu including 158 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1548 status rows across 10 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1142, released 169, ignored 164, not-affected 66, needed 3, needs-triage 2, pending 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-38248

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-38248

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 5.15, < 6.15.5 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.16 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.16:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.16 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.16:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.16 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.16:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2025-38248

cvelogic Threat Intelligence