CVE-2025-38551 virtio-net: fix recursived rtnl_lock() during probe()
A race condition in the virtio-net driver causes a deadlock during probe, leading to a denial of service in Linux kernel systems.
- 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-2025-38551?
CVE-2025-38551 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 16 Aug 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:
virtio-net: fix recursived rtnl_lock() during probe()
The deadlock appears in a stack trace like:
virtnet_probe() rtnl_lock() virtio_config_changed_work() netdev_notify_peers() rtnl_lock()
It happens if the VMM sends a VIRTIO_NET_S_ANNOUNCE request while the virtio-net driver is still probing.
The config_work in probe() will get scheduled until virtnet_open() enables the config change notification via virtio_config_driver_enable().
Weakness: CWE-667
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38551?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2025-38551?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2025-38551 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38551 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2025-38551, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38551, GHSA-hfm8-q4mr-mf9f, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2025-38551, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-38551, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38551.