CVE-2025-38571 | sunrpc: fix client side handling of tls alerts

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: sunrpc: fix client side handling of tls alerts A security exploit was discovered in NFS over TLS in tls_alert_recv due to its assumption that there is valid data in the msghdr's iterator's kvec. Instead, this patch proposes the rework how control messages are setup and used by sock_recvmsg(). If no control message structure is setup, kTLS layer will read and process TLS data record types. As soon as it encounters a TLS control message, it would return an error. At that point, NFS can setup a kvec backed control buffer and read in the control message such as a TLS alert. Scott found that a msg iterator can advance the kvec pointer as a part of the copy process thus we need to revert the iterator before calling into the tls_alert_recv.

Published: 2025-08-19 Last update: 2025-11-26 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-38571 is rated Low Risk (23.6/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.15%). 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-2025-38571

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 2026-06-15 0.02% 0.15% +0.13%
2 2025-08-20 0.02%

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-38571

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-2025-38571

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-38571

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2025-38571 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-2025-38571
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38571
suse high CVE-2025-38571 severity important: SUSE including 521 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, …), 1156 product×package rows across 217 product lines (Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/base-os-container, Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/kvm-os-container, … (217 product lines)): Fixed 670, Known Not Affected 234, Known Affected 231, First Fixed 21. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38571/
ubuntu medium CVE-2025-38571 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, ignored 161, released 133, not-affected 96, needed 3, needs-triage 2, pending 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-38571

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-38571

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 6.5, < 6.6.102 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.7, < 6.12.42 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.13, < 6.15.10 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.16, < 6.16.1 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2025-38571

cvelogic Threat Intelligence