CVE-2025-38417 ice: fix eswitch code memory leak in reset scenario
A memory leak in the Intel ice driver during VF reset in legacy mode can exhaust kernel memory, 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-2025-38417?
CVE-2025-38417 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:
ice: fix eswitch code memory leak in reset scenario
Add simple eswitch mode checker in attaching VF procedure and allocate required port representor memory structures only in switchdev mode. The reset flows triggers VF (if present) detach/attach procedure. It might involve VF port representor(s) re-creation if the device is configured is switchdev mode (not legacy one). The memory was blindly allocated in current implementation, regardless of the mode and not freed if in legacy mode.
Kmemeleak trace: unreferenced object (percpu) 0x7e3bce5b888458 (size 40): comm "bash", pid 1784, jiffies 4295743894 hex dump (first 32 bytes on cpu 45): 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ backtrace (crc 0): pcpu_alloc_noprof+0x4c4/0x7c0 ice_repr_create+0x66/0x130 [ice] ice_repr_create_vf+0x22/0x70 [ice] ice_eswitch_attach_vf+0x1b/0xa0 [ice] ice_reset_all_vfs+0x1dd/0x2f0 [ice] ice_pci_err_resume+0x3b/0xb0 [ice] pci_reset_function+0x8f/0x120 reset_store+0x56/0xa0 kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x120/0x1b0 vfs_write+0x31c/0x430 ksys_write+0x61/0xd0 do_syscall_64+0x5b/0x180 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e
Testing hints (ethX is PF netdev): - create at least one VF echo 1 > /sys/class/net/ethX/device/sriov_numvfs - trigger the reset echo 1 > /sys/class/net/ethX/device/reset
Weakness: CWE-401
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38417?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2025-38417?
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-2025-38417 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38417 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2025-38417, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38417, GHSA-3g9v-mx9v-wmwv, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38417.