VDB

DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38614

DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38614 PUBLISHED CVSS 5.5 MEDIUM

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: - They don't look upwards in the tree. - If there are multiple downwards paths of different lengths, only one of the paths is actually considered for the depth check since commit 28d82dc1c4ed ("epoll: limit paths"). 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: 1. In ep_loop_check_proc(), note the subtree depth of each visited node, and use subtree depths for the total depth calculation even when a subtree has already been visited. 2. Add ep_get_upwards_depth_proc() for similarly determining the maximum depth of an upwards walk. 3. In ep_loop_check(), use these values to limit the total path length between epoll nodes to EP_MAX_NESTS edges.

Risk Scores

CVSS v3.1
5.5
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Affected Products

VendorProductVersions
Debian:14linux0, 6.12.38-1, 6.12.41-1
Debian:11linux6.11.5-1, 6.18, 6.18
Debian:11linux-6.16.1.119-1, 6.1.112-1, 6.1.106-3
Debian:12linux6.1.66-1, 6.1.67-1, 6.1.69-1
Debian:13linux6.12.38-1, 6.12.43-1, 6.12.41-1

Timeline

  • Aug 19, 2025 CVE Published
  • Apr 28, 2026 CVE Updated
Open in Interactive Console →
$ Console Community · 100/wk Open console ›