# CVE-2025-38224: can: kvaser_pciefd: refine error prone echo_skb_max handling logic

> A slab-out-of-bounds read in the Kvaser PCIe FD CAN driver allows attackers to cause a denial of service or potentially execute code via crafted network packets.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 4 Jul 2025
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2025-38224, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38224, GHSA-f3fm-xfjv-xm82, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38224

## What is CVE-2025-38224?

CVE-2025-38224 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 4 Jul 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

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

can: kvaser_pciefd: refine error prone echo_skb_max handling logic

echo_skb_max should define the supported upper limit of echo_skb[]
allocated inside the netdevice's priv. The corresponding size value
provided by this driver to alloc_candev() is KVASER_PCIEFD_CAN_TX_MAX_COUNT
which is 17.

But later echo_skb_max is rounded up to the nearest power of two (for the
max case, that would be 32) and the tx/ack indices calculated further
during tx/rx may exceed the upper array boundary. Kasan reported this for
the ack case inside kvaser_pciefd_handle_ack_packet(), though the xmit
function has actually caught the same thing earlier.

 BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in kvaser_pciefd_handle_ack_packet+0x2d7/0x92a drivers/net/can/kvaser_pciefd.c:1528
 Read of size 8 at addr ffff888105e4f078 by task swapper/4/0

 CPU: 4 UID: 0 PID: 0 Comm: swapper/4 Not tainted 6.15.0 #12 PREEMPT(voluntary)
 Call Trace:
  <IRQ>
 dump_stack_lvl lib/dump_stack.c:122
 print_report mm/kasan/report.c:521
 kasan_report mm/kasan/report.c:634
 kvaser_pciefd_handle_ack_packet drivers/net/can/kvaser_pciefd.c:1528
 kvaser_pciefd_read_packet drivers/net/can/kvaser_pciefd.c:1605
 kvaser_pciefd_read_buffer drivers/net/can/kvaser_pciefd.c:1656
 kvaser_pciefd_receive_irq drivers/net/can/kvaser_pciefd.c:1684
 kvaser_pciefd_irq_handler drivers/net/can/kvaser_pciefd.c:1733
 __handle_irq_event_percpu kernel/irq/handle.c:158
 handle_irq_event kernel/irq/handle.c:210
 handle_edge_irq kernel/irq/chip.c:833
 __common_interrupt arch/x86/kernel/irq.c:296
 common_interrupt arch/x86/kernel/irq.c:286
  </IRQ>

Tx max count definitely matters for kvaser_pciefd_tx_avail(), but for seq
numbers' generation that's not the case - we're free to calculate them as
would be more convenient, not taking tx max count into account. The only
downside is that the size of echo_skb[] should correspond to the max seq
number (not tx max count), so in some situations a bit more memory would
be consumed than could be.

Thus make the size of the underlying echo_skb[] sufficient for the rounded
max tx value.

Found by Linux Verification Center (linuxtesting.org) with Syzkaller.

Weakness: CWE-125 (Out-of-bounds Read)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38224?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-38224?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-38224 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38224 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-38224 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-38224 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 4 Jul 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38224 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. 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-2025-38224/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38224/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38224
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38224
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-38224

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38224/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.