# CVE-2025-38165: bpf, sockmap: Fix panic when calling skb_linearize

> A local attacker can trigger a kernel panic in the Linux kernel's sockmap subsystem by sending specific network data, causing a denial of service.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 3 Jul 2025
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-64565, BELL-CVE-2025-38165, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38165, GHSA-w959-55fc-rv4x, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-38165, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-38165, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-38165, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38165

## What is CVE-2025-38165?

CVE-2025-38165 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 3 Jul 2025. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

bpf, sockmap: Fix panic when calling skb_linearize

The panic can be reproduced by executing the command:
./bench sockmap -c 2 -p 1 -a --rx-verdict-ingress --rx-strp 100000

Then a kernel panic was captured:
'''
[  657.460555] kernel BUG at net/core/skbuff.c:2178!
[  657.462680] Tainted: [W]=WARN
[  657.463287] Workqueue: events sk_psock_backlog
...
[  657.469610]  <TASK>
[  657.469738]  ? die+0x36/0x90
[  657.469916]  ? do_trap+0x1d0/0x270
[  657.470118]  ? pskb_expand_head+0x612/0xf40
[  657.470376]  ? pskb_expand_head+0x612/0xf40
[  657.470620]  ? do_error_trap+0xa3/0x170
[  657.470846]  ? pskb_expand_head+0x612/0xf40
[  657.471092]  ? handle_invalid_op+0x2c/0x40
[  657.471335]  ? pskb_expand_head+0x612/0xf40
[  657.471579]  ? exc_invalid_op+0x2d/0x40
[  657.471805]  ? asm_exc_invalid_op+0x1a/0x20
[  657.472052]  ? pskb_expand_head+0xd1/0xf40
[  657.472292]  ? pskb_expand_head+0x612/0xf40
[  657.472540]  ? lock_acquire+0x18f/0x4e0
[  657.472766]  ? find_held_lock+0x2d/0x110
[  657.472999]  ? __pfx_pskb_expand_head+0x10/0x10
[  657.473263]  ? __kmalloc_cache_noprof+0x5b/0x470
[  657.473537]  ? __pfx___lock_release.isra.0+0x10/0x10
[  657.473826]  __pskb_pull_tail+0xfd/0x1d20
[  657.474062]  ? __kasan_slab_alloc+0x4e/0x90
[  657.474707]  sk_psock_skb_ingress_enqueue+0x3bf/0x510
[  657.475392]  ? __kasan_kmalloc+0xaa/0xb0
[  657.476010]  sk_psock_backlog+0x5cf/0xd70
[  657.476637]  process_one_work+0x858/0x1a20
'''

The panic originates from the assertion BUG_ON(skb_shared(skb)) in
skb_linearize(). A previous commit(see Fixes tag) introduced skb_get()
to avoid race conditions between skb operations in the backlog and skb
release in the recvmsg path. However, this caused the panic to always
occur when skb_linearize is executed.

The "--rx-strp 100000" parameter forces the RX path to use the strparser
module which aggregates data until it reaches 100KB before calling sockmap
logic. The 100KB payload exceeds MAX_MSG_FRAGS, triggering skb_linearize.

To fix this issue, just move skb_get into sk_psock_skb_ingress_enqueue.

'''
sk_psock_backlog:
    sk_psock_handle_skb
       skb_get(skb) <== we move it into 'sk_psock_skb_ingress_enqueue'
       sk_psock_skb_ingress____________
                                       ↓
                                       |
                                       | → sk_psock_skb_ingress_self
                                       |      sk_psock_skb_ingress_enqueue
sk_psock_verdict_apply_________________↑          skb_linearize
'''

Note that for verdict_apply path, the skb_get operation is unnecessary so
we add 'take_ref' param to control it's behavior.

Weakness: CWE-401 (Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38165?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Debian Debian Linux, Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-38165?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-38165 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38165 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux

- [CVE-2015-3306](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-3306/): ProFTPD Improper Access Control (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-49113](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-49113/): RoundCube Webmail Deserialization of Untrusted Data (critical 9.9, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-24061](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-24061/): GNU InetUtils Argument Injection (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-39682](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-39682/): Linux Kernel Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-9680](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-9680/): Mozilla Firefox Use-After-Free (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-38165 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-38165 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 3 Jul 2025. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38165 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Debian Debian Linux. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38165/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38165/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38165
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38165
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-38165

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38165/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.