# CVE-2025-38525: rxrpc: Fix irq-disabled in local_bh_enable()

> A kernel bug in rxrpc causes a warning and potential instability when handling incoming calls with interrupts disabled, leading to denial of service.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 16 Aug 2025
- **Updated:** 10 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2025-38525, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38525, GHSA-6x2c-jc67-wp74, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38525

## What is CVE-2025-38525?

CVE-2025-38525 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 16 Aug 2025. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

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

rxrpc: Fix irq-disabled in local_bh_enable()

The rxrpc_assess_MTU_size() function calls down into the IP layer to find
out the MTU size for a route.  When accepting an incoming call, this is
called from rxrpc_new_incoming_call() which holds interrupts disabled
across the code that calls down to it.  Unfortunately, the IP layer uses
local_bh_enable() which, config dependent, throws a warning if IRQs are
enabled:

WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 5544 at kernel/softirq.c:387 __local_bh_enable_ip+0x43/0xd0
...
RIP: 0010:__local_bh_enable_ip+0x43/0xd0
...
Call Trace:
 <TASK>
 rt_cache_route+0x7e/0xa0
 rt_set_nexthop.isra.0+0x3b3/0x3f0
 __mkroute_output+0x43a/0x460
 ip_route_output_key_hash+0xf7/0x140
 ip_route_output_flow+0x1b/0x90
 rxrpc_assess_MTU_size.isra.0+0x2a0/0x590
 rxrpc_new_incoming_peer+0x46/0x120
 rxrpc_alloc_incoming_call+0x1b1/0x400
 rxrpc_new_incoming_call+0x1da/0x5e0
 rxrpc_input_packet+0x827/0x900
 rxrpc_io_thread+0x403/0xb60
 kthread+0x2f7/0x310
 ret_from_fork+0x2a/0x230
 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30
...
hardirqs last  enabled at (23): _raw_spin_unlock_irq+0x24/0x50
hardirqs last disabled at (24): _raw_read_lock_irq+0x17/0x70
softirqs last  enabled at (0): copy_process+0xc61/0x2730
softirqs last disabled at (25): rt_add_uncached_list+0x3c/0x90

Fix this by moving the call to rxrpc_assess_MTU_size() out of
rxrpc_init_peer() and further up the stack where it can be done without
interrupts disabled.

It shouldn't be a problem for rxrpc_new_incoming_call() to do it after the
locks are dropped as pmtud is going to be performed by the I/O thread - and
we're in the I/O thread at this point.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38525?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-38525?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-38525 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38525 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-2025-38525 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-38525 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 16 Aug 2025. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38525 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-2025-38525/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38525/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38525
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38525
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-38525

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38525/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.