CVE-2025-38457
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/sched: Abort __tc_modify_qdisc if parent class does not exist Lion's patch [1] revealed an ancient bug in the qdisc API.
Does this matter?
Lower severity and a low EPSS score (0.16%). Track it; it rarely justifies an emergency change on its own.
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/sched: Abort __tc_modify_qdisc if parent class does not exist Lion's patch [1] revealed an ancient bug in the qdisc API. Whenever a user creates/modifies a qdisc specifying as a parent another qdisc, the qdisc API will, during grafting, detect that the user is not trying to attach to a class and reject. However grafting is performed after qdisc_create (and thus the qdiscs' init callback) is executed. In qdiscs that eventually call qdisc_tree_reduce_backlog during init or change (such as fq, hhf, choke, etc), an issue arises. For example, executing the following commands: sudo tc qdisc add dev lo root handle a: htb default 2 sudo tc qdisc add dev lo parent a: handle beef fq Qdiscs such as fq, hhf, choke, etc unconditionally invoke qdisc_tree_reduce_backlog() in their control path init() or change() which then causes a failure to find the child class; however, that does not stop the unconditional invocation of the assumed child qdisc's qlen_notify with a null class. All these qdiscs make the assumption that class is non-null. The solution is ensure that qdisc_leaf() which looks up the parent class, and is invoked prior to qdisc_create(), should return failure on not finding the class. In this patch, we leverage qdisc_leaf to return ERR_PTRs whenever the parentid doesn't correspond to a class, so that we can detect it earlier on and abort before qdisc_create is called. [1] https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/d912cbd7-193b-4269-9857-525bee8bbb6a@gmail.com/
- CVSS 3.1
- 5.5 MEDIUMCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- EPSS
- 0.16% probability · 6th percentile
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Affected
- linux/linux kernel · debian/debian linux
- Source
- 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
References
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/23c165dde88eac405eebb59051ea1fe139a45803Patch
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/25452638f133ac19d75af3f928327d8016952c8ePatch
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4c691d1b6b6dbd73f30ed9ee7da05f037b0c49afPatch
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8ecd651ef24ab50123692a4e3e25db93cb11602aPatch
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/90436e72c9622c2f70389070088325a3232d339fPatch
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/923a276c74e25073ae391e930792ac86a9f77f1ePatch
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e28a383d6485c3bb51dc5953552f76c4dea33eeaPatch
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ffdde7bf5a439aaa1955ebd581f5c64ab1533963Patch
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/10/msg00007.htmlThird Party Advisory
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/10/msg00008.htmlThird Party Advisory
- https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-082556.html
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA. Refreshed daily.