U.S. flag   An official website of the United States government
Dot gov

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Https

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock (Dot gov) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

CVE-2025-38553 Detail

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/sched: Restrict conditions for adding duplicating netems to qdisc tree netem_enqueue's duplication prevention logic breaks when a netem resides in a qdisc tree with other netems - this can lead to a soft lockup and OOM loop in netem_dequeue, as seen in [1]. Ensure that a duplicating netem cannot exist in a tree with other netems. Previous approaches suggested in discussions in chronological order: 1) Track duplication status or ttl in the sk_buff struct. Considered too specific a use case to extend such a struct, though this would be a resilient fix and address other previous and potential future DOS bugs like the one described in loopy fun [2]. 2) Restrict netem_enqueue recursion depth like in act_mirred with a per cpu variable. However, netem_dequeue can call enqueue on its child, and the depth restriction could be bypassed if the child is a netem. 3) Use the same approach as in 2, but add metadata in netem_skb_cb to handle the netem_dequeue case and track a packet's involvement in duplication. This is an overly complex approach, and Jamal notes that the skb cb can be overwritten to circumvent this safeguard. 4) Prevent the addition of a netem to a qdisc tree if its ancestral path contains a netem. However, filters and actions can cause a packet to change paths when re-enqueued to the root from netem duplication, leading us to the current solution: prevent a duplicating netem from inhabiting the same tree as other netems. [1] https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/8DuRWwfqjoRDLDmBMlIfbrsZg9Gx50DHJc1ilxsEBNe2D6NMoigR_eIRIG0LOjMc3r10nUUZtArXx4oZBIdUfZQrwjcQhdinnMis_0G7VEk=@willsroot.io/ [2] https://lwn.net/Articles/719297/


Metrics

NVD enrichment efforts reference publicly available information to associate vector strings. CVSS information contributed by other sources is also displayed.
CVSS 4.0 Severity and Vector Strings:

NIST CVSS score
NIST: NVD
N/A
NVD assessment not yet provided.

References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools

By selecting these links, you will be leaving NIST webspace. We have provided these links to other web sites because they may have information that would be of interest to you. No inferences should be drawn on account of other sites being referenced, or not, from this page. There may be other web sites that are more appropriate for your purpose. NIST does not necessarily endorse the views expressed, or concur with the facts presented on these sites. Further, NIST does not endorse any commercial products that may be mentioned on these sites. Please address comments about this page to [email protected].

URL Source(s) Tag(s)
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/09317dfb681ac5a96fc69bea0c54441cf91b8270 kernel.org
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/103c4e27ec9f5fe53022e46e976abf52c7221baf kernel.org
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/250f8796006c0f2bc638ce545f601d49ae8d528b kernel.org
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/325f5ec67cc0a77f2d0d453445b9857f1cd06c76 kernel.org
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/795cb393e38977aa991e70a9363da0ee734b2114 kernel.org
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ad340a4b4adb855b18b3666f26ad65c8968e2deb kernel.org
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cab2809944989889f88a1a8b5cff1c78460c72cb kernel.org
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ec8e0e3d7adef940cdf9475e2352c0680189d14e kernel.org
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f088b6ebe8797a3f948d2cae47f34bfb45cc6522 kernel.org

Weakness Enumeration

CWE-ID CWE Name Source

Change History

2 change records found show changes

Quick Info

CVE Dictionary Entry:
CVE-2025-38553
NVD Published Date:
08/19/2025
NVD Last Modified:
08/28/2025
Source:
kernel.org