# CVE-2025-38279: bpf: Do not include stack ptr register in precision backtracking bookkeeping

> A bug in the Linux kernel BPF verifier causes a warning and potential crash when processing specific stack pointer registers, leading to denial of service.

- **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:** 10 Jul 2025
- **Updated:** 21 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-64995, BELL-CVE-2025-38279, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38279, GHSA-f7v2-pww5-gxcf, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-38279, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38279

## What is CVE-2025-38279?

CVE-2025-38279 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:

bpf: Do not include stack ptr register in precision backtracking bookkeeping

Yi Lai reported an issue ([1]) where the following warning appears
in kernel dmesg:
  [   60.643604] verifier backtracking bug
  [   60.643635] WARNING: CPU: 10 PID: 2315 at kernel/bpf/verifier.c:4302 __mark_chain_precision+0x3a6c/0x3e10
  [   60.648428] Modules linked in: bpf_testmod(OE)
  [   60.650471] CPU: 10 UID: 0 PID: 2315 Comm: test_progs Tainted: G           OE       6.15.0-rc4-gef11287f8289-dirty #327 PREEMPT(full)
  [   60.654385] Tainted: [O]=OOT_MODULE, [E]=UNSIGNED_MODULE
  [   60.656682] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.14.0-0-g155821a1990b-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014
  [   60.660475] RIP: 0010:__mark_chain_precision+0x3a6c/0x3e10
  [   60.662814] Code: 5a 30 84 89 ea e8 c4 d9 01 00 80 3d 3e 7d d8 04 00 0f 85 60 fa ff ff c6 05 31 7d d8 04
                       01 48 c7 c7 00 58 30 84 e8 c4 06 a5 ff <0f> 0b e9 46 fa ff ff 48 ...
  [   60.668720] RSP: 0018:ffff888116cc7298 EFLAGS: 00010246
  [   60.671075] RAX: 54d70e82dfd31900 RBX: ffff888115b65e20 RCX: 0000000000000000
  [   60.673659] RDX: 0000000000000001 RSI: 0000000000000004 RDI: 00000000ffffffff
  [   60.676241] RBP: 0000000000000400 R08: ffff8881f6f23bd3 R09: 1ffff1103ede477a
  [   60.678787] R10: dffffc0000000000 R11: ffffed103ede477b R12: ffff888115b60ae8
  [   60.681420] R13: 1ffff11022b6cbc4 R14: 00000000fffffff2 R15: 0000000000000001
  [   60.684030] FS:  00007fc2aedd80c0(0000) GS:ffff88826fa8a000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
  [   60.686837] CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
  [   60.689027] CR2: 000056325369e000 CR3: 000000011088b002 CR4: 0000000000370ef0
  [   60.691623] Call Trace:
  [   60.692821]  <TASK>
  [   60.693960]  ? __pfx_verbose+0x10/0x10
  [   60.695656]  ? __pfx_disasm_kfunc_name+0x10/0x10
  [   60.697495]  check_cond_jmp_op+0x16f7/0x39b0
  [   60.699237]  do_check+0x58fa/0xab10
  ...

Further analysis shows the warning is at line 4302 as below:

  4294                 /* static subprog call instruction, which
  4295                  * means that we are exiting current subprog,
  4296                  * so only r1-r5 could be still requested as
  4297                  * precise, r0 and r6-r10 or any stack slot in
  4298                  * the current frame should be zero by now
  4299                  */
  4300                 if (bt_reg_mask(bt) & ~BPF_REGMASK_ARGS) {
  4301                         verbose(env, "BUG regs %x\n", bt_reg_mask(bt));
  4302                         WARN_ONCE(1, "verifier backtracking bug");
  4303                         return -EFAULT;
  4304                 }

With the below test (also in the next patch):
  __used __naked static void __bpf_jmp_r10(void)
  {
	asm volatile (
	"r2 = 2314885393468386424 ll;"
	"goto +0;"
	"if r2 <= r10 goto +3;"
	"if r1 >= -1835016 goto +0;"
	"if r2 <= 8 goto +0;"
	"if r3 <= 0 goto +0;"
	"exit;"
	::: __clobber_all);
  }

  SEC("?raw_tp")
  __naked void bpf_jmp_r10(void)
  {
	asm volatile (
	"r3 = 0 ll;"
	"call __bpf_jmp_r10;"
	"r0 = 0;"
	"exit;"
	::: __clobber_all);
  }

The following is the verifier failure log:
  0: (18) r3 = 0x0                      ; R3_w=0
  2: (85) call pc+2
  caller:
   R10=fp0
  callee:
   frame1: R1=ctx() R3_w=0 R10=fp0
  5: frame1: R1=ctx() R3_w=0 R10=fp0
  ; asm volatile ("                                 \ @ verifier_precision.c:184
  5: (18) r2 = 0x20202000256c6c78       ; frame1: R2_w=0x20202000256c6c78
  7: (05) goto pc+0
  8: (bd) if r2 <= r10 goto pc+3        ; frame1: R2_w=0x20202000256c6c78 R10=fp0
  9: (35) if r1 >= 0xffe3fff8 goto pc+0         ; frame1: R1=ctx()
  10: (b5) if r2 <= 0x8 goto pc+0
  mark_precise: frame1: last_idx 10 first_idx 0 subseq_idx -1
  mark_precise: frame1: regs=r2 stack= before 9: (35) if r1 >= 0xffe3fff8 goto pc+0
  mark_precise: frame1: regs=r2 stack= before 8: (bd) if r2 <= r10 goto pc+3
  mark_preci
---truncated---

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38279?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-38279?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-38279 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38279 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-2025-38279 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-38279 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38279 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-2025-38279/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38279/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38279
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38279
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-38279

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38279/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.