CVE-2025-38278 octeontx2-pf: QOS: Refactor TC_HTB_LEAF_DEL_LAST callback
A flaw in the OcteonTX2 network driver causes kernel warnings and potential instability during queue deletion, leading to denial of service.
- 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
What is CVE-2025-38278?
CVE-2025-38278 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 10 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:
octeontx2-pf: QOS: Refactor TC_HTB_LEAF_DEL_LAST callback
This patch addresses below issues,
1. Active traffic on the leaf node must be stopped before its send queue is reassigned to the parent. This patch resolves the issue by marking the node as 'Inner'.
2. During a system reboot, the interface receives TC_HTB_LEAF_DEL and TC_HTB_LEAF_DEL_LAST callbacks to delete its HTB queues. In the case of TC_HTB_LEAF_DEL_LAST, although the same send queue is reassigned to the parent, the current logic still attempts to update the real number of queues, leadning to below warnings
New queues can't be registered after device unregistration. WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 6475 at net/core/net-sysfs.c:1714 netdev_queue_update_kobjects+0x1e4/0x200
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38278?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2025-38278?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is CVE-2025-38278 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38278 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2025-38278, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38278, GHSA-62hm-rhvj-5p55, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-38278, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38278.