CVE-2025-38476 | rpl: Fix use-after-free in rpl_do_srh_inline().

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: rpl: Fix use-after-free in rpl_do_srh_inline(). Running lwt_dst_cache_ref_loop.sh in selftest with KASAN triggers the splat below [0]. rpl_do_srh_inline() fetches ipv6_hdr(skb) and accesses it after skb_cow_head(), which is illegal as the header could be freed then. Let's fix it by making oldhdr to a local struct instead of a pointer. [0]: [root@fedora net]# ./lwt_dst_cache_ref_loop.sh ... TEST: rpl (input) [ 57.631529] ================================================================== BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in rpl_do_srh_inline.isra.0 (net/ipv6/rpl_iptunnel.c:174) Read of size 40 at addr ffff888122bf96d8 by task ping6/1543 CPU: 50 UID: 0 PID: 1543 Comm: ping6 Not tainted 6.16.0-rc5-01302-gfadd1e6231b1 #23 PREEMPT(voluntary) Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.16.3-debian-1.16.3-2 04/01/2014 Call Trace: <IRQ> dump_stack_lvl (lib/dump_stack.c:122) print_report (mm/kasan/report.c:409 mm/kasan/report.c:521) kasan_report (mm/kasan/report.c:221 mm/kasan/report.c:636) kasan_check_range (mm/kasan/generic.c:175 (discriminator 1) mm/kasan/generic.c:189 (discriminator 1)) __asan_memmove (mm/kasan/shadow.c:94 (discriminator 2)) rpl_do_srh_inline.isra.0 (net/ipv6/rpl_iptunnel.c:174) rpl_input (net/ipv6/rpl_iptunnel.c:201 net/ipv6/rpl_iptunnel.c:282) lwtunnel_input (net/core/lwtunnel.c:459) ipv6_rcv (./include/net/dst.h:471 (discriminator 1) ./include/net/dst.h:469 (discriminator 1) net/ipv6/ip6_input.c:79 (discriminator 1) ./include/linux/netfilter.h:317 (discriminator 1) ./include/linux/netfilter.h:311 (discriminator 1) net/ipv6/ip6_input.c:311 (discriminator 1)) __netif_receive_skb_one_core (net/core/dev.c:5967) process_backlog (./include/linux/rcupdate.h:869 net/core/dev.c:6440) __napi_poll.constprop.0 (net/core/dev.c:7452) net_rx_action (net/core/dev.c:7518 net/core/dev.c:7643) handle_softirqs (kernel/softirq.c:579) do_softirq (kernel/softirq.c:480 (discriminator 20)) </IRQ> <TASK> __local_bh_enable_ip (kernel/softirq.c:407) __dev_queue_xmit (net/core/dev.c:4740) ip6_finish_output2 (./include/linux/netdevice.h:3358 ./include/net/neighbour.h:526 ./include/net/neighbour.h:540 net/ipv6/ip6_output.c:141) ip6_finish_output (net/ipv6/ip6_output.c:215 net/ipv6/ip6_output.c:226) ip6_output (./include/linux/netfilter.h:306 net/ipv6/ip6_output.c:248) ip6_send_skb (net/ipv6/ip6_output.c:1983) rawv6_sendmsg (net/ipv6/raw.c:588 net/ipv6/raw.c:918) __sys_sendto (net/socket.c:714 (discriminator 1) net/socket.c:729 (discriminator 1) net/socket.c:2228 (discriminator 1)) __x64_sys_sendto (net/socket.c:2231) do_syscall_64 (arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 (discriminator 1) arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94 (discriminator 1)) entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe (arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:130) RIP: 0033:0x7f68cffb2a06 Code: 5d e8 41 8b 93 08 03 00 00 59 5e 48 83 f8 fc 75 19 83 e2 39 83 fa 08 75 11 e8 26 ff ff ff 66 0f 1f 44 00 00 48 8b 45 10 0f 05 <48> 8b 5d f8 c9 c3 0f 1f 40 00 f3 0f 1e fa 55 48 89 e5 48 83 ec 08 RSP: 002b:00007ffefb7c53d0 EFLAGS: 00000202 ORIG_RAX: 000000000000002c RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 0000564cd69f10a0 RCX: 00007f68cffb2a06 RDX: 0000000000000040 RSI: 0000564cd69f10a4 RDI: 0000000000000003 RBP: 00007ffefb7c53f0 R08: 0000564cd6a032ac R09: 000000000000001c R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000202 R12: 0000564cd69f10a4 R13: 0000000000000040 R14: 00007ffefb7c66e0 R15: 0000564cd69f10a0 </TASK> Allocated by task 1543: kasan_save_stack (mm/kasan/common.c:48) kasan_save_track (mm/kasan/common.c:60 (discriminator 1) mm/kasan/common.c:69 (discriminator 1)) __kasan_slab_alloc (mm/kasan/common.c:319 mm/kasan/common.c:345) kmem_cache_alloc_node_noprof (./include/linux/kasan.h:250 mm/slub.c:4148 mm/slub.c:4197 mm/slub.c:4249) kmalloc_reserve (net/core/skbuff.c:581 (discriminator 88)) __alloc_skb (net/core/skbuff.c:669) __ip6_append_data (net/ipv6/ip6_output.c:1672 (discriminator 1)) ip6_ ---truncated---

Published: 2025-07-28 Last update: 2025-12-22 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-38476 is rated Low Risk (38.5/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.07%). 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-2025-38476

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 2026-05-24 0.03% 0.07% +0.04%
2 2025-12-23 0.06% 0.03% -0.04%
3 2025-11-27 0.06%

Full EPSS history (4 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-38476

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-2025-38476

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-38476

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2025-38476 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-2025-38476
redhat https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38476
suse high https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38476/
ubuntu medium CVE-2025-38476 medium priority: Ubuntu including 158 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1414 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1017, released 169, ignored 157, not-affected 63, needed 4, needs-triage 2, pending 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-38476

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-38476

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 5.7, < 5.10.241 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.11, < 5.15.190 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.16, < 6.1.147 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.2, < 6.6.100 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.7, < 6.12.40 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.13, < 6.15.8 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:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.16 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.16:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.16 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.16:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.16 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.16:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 11.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2025-38476

cvelogic Threat Intelligence