# CVE-2025-38392: idpf: convert control queue mutex to a spinlock

> A locking bug in the idpf network driver causes a kernel warning and potential crash when MAC filtering is enabled, leading to denial of service.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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:** 25 Jul 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2025-38392, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38392, GHSA-wx5g-cq33-j3p6, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-38392, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38392

## What is CVE-2025-38392?

CVE-2025-38392 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 25 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:

idpf: convert control queue mutex to a spinlock

With VIRTCHNL2_CAP_MACFILTER enabled, the following warning is generated
on module load:

[  324.701677] BUG: sleeping function called from invalid context at kernel/locking/mutex.c:578
[  324.701684] in_atomic(): 1, irqs_disabled(): 0, non_block: 0, pid: 1582, name: NetworkManager
[  324.701689] preempt_count: 201, expected: 0
[  324.701693] RCU nest depth: 0, expected: 0
[  324.701697] 2 locks held by NetworkManager/1582:
[  324.701702]  #0: ffffffff9f7be770 (rtnl_mutex){....}-{3:3}, at: rtnl_newlink+0x791/0x21e0
[  324.701730]  #1: ff1100216c380368 (_xmit_ETHER){....}-{2:2}, at: __dev_open+0x3f0/0x870
[  324.701749] Preemption disabled at:
[  324.701752] [<ffffffff9cd23b9d>] __dev_open+0x3dd/0x870
[  324.701765] CPU: 30 UID: 0 PID: 1582 Comm: NetworkManager Not tainted 6.15.0-rc5+ #2 PREEMPT(voluntary)
[  324.701771] Hardware name: Intel Corporation M50FCP2SBSTD/M50FCP2SBSTD, BIOS SE5C741.86B.01.01.0001.2211140926 11/14/2022
[  324.701774] Call Trace:
[  324.701777]  <TASK>
[  324.701779]  dump_stack_lvl+0x5d/0x80
[  324.701788]  ? __dev_open+0x3dd/0x870
[  324.701793]  __might_resched.cold+0x1ef/0x23d
<..>
[  324.701818]  __mutex_lock+0x113/0x1b80
<..>
[  324.701917]  idpf_ctlq_clean_sq+0xad/0x4b0 [idpf]
[  324.701935]  ? kasan_save_track+0x14/0x30
[  324.701941]  idpf_mb_clean+0x143/0x380 [idpf]
<..>
[  324.701991]  idpf_send_mb_msg+0x111/0x720 [idpf]
[  324.702009]  idpf_vc_xn_exec+0x4cc/0x990 [idpf]
[  324.702021]  ? rcu_is_watching+0x12/0xc0
[  324.702035]  idpf_add_del_mac_filters+0x3ed/0xb50 [idpf]
<..>
[  324.702122]  __hw_addr_sync_dev+0x1cf/0x300
[  324.702126]  ? find_held_lock+0x32/0x90
[  324.702134]  idpf_set_rx_mode+0x317/0x390 [idpf]
[  324.702152]  __dev_open+0x3f8/0x870
[  324.702159]  ? __pfx___dev_open+0x10/0x10
[  324.702174]  __dev_change_flags+0x443/0x650
<..>
[  324.702208]  netif_change_flags+0x80/0x160
[  324.702218]  do_setlink.isra.0+0x16a0/0x3960
<..>
[  324.702349]  rtnl_newlink+0x12fd/0x21e0

The sequence is as follows:
	rtnl_newlink()->
	__dev_change_flags()->
	__dev_open()->
	dev_set_rx_mode() - >  # disables BH and grabs "dev->addr_list_lock"
	idpf_set_rx_mode() ->  # proceed only if VIRTCHNL2_CAP_MACFILTER is ON
	__dev_uc_sync() ->
	idpf_add_mac_filter ->
	idpf_add_del_mac_filters ->
	idpf_send_mb_msg() ->
	idpf_mb_clean() ->
	idpf_ctlq_clean_sq()   # mutex_lock(cq_lock)

Fix by converting cq_lock to a spinlock. All operations under the new
lock are safe except freeing the DMA memory, which may use vunmap(). Fix
by requesting a contiguous physical memory for the DMA mapping.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38392?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-38392?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-38392 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38392 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-2025-38392 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-38392 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 25 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-2025-38392 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-2025-38392/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38392/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38392
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38392
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-38392

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38392/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.