In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
eventpoll: Fix semi-unbounded recursion
Ensure that epoll instances can never form a graph deeper than
EP_MAX_NESTS+1 links.
Currently, ep_loop_check_proc() ensures that the graph is loop-free and
does some recursion depth checks, but those recursion depth checks don't
limit the depth of the resulting tree for two reasons:
Essentially, the current recursion depth check in ep_loop_check_proc() just
serves to prevent it from recursing too deeply while checking for loops.
A more thorough check is done in reverse_path_check() after the new graph
edge has already been created; this checks, among other things, that no
paths going upwards from any non-epoll file with a length of more than 5
edges exist. However, this check does not apply to non-epoll files.
As a result, it is possible to recurse to a depth of at least roughly 500,
tested on v6.15. (I am unsure if deeper recursion is possible; and this may
have changed with commit 8c44dac8add7 ("eventpoll: Fix priority inversion
problem").)
To fix it:
| Score | Percentile |
|---|---|
| 0.03% | 10.08% |
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.5 | 3.1 | — |
|
| Type | Value |
|---|---|
| GHSA | GHSA-grcg-mgx8-mfvf ↗ |
| CVE | CVE-2025-38614 ↗ |
| CWE id | Name |
|---|---|
| CWE-674 | Uncontrolled Recursion |