# CVE-2025-38569: benet: fix BUG when creating VFs

> A local attacker with root privileges can crash the Linux kernel by creating SR-IOV virtual functions in the benet network driver.

- **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:** 19 Aug 2025
- **Updated:** 23 May 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-73806, BELL-CVE-2025-38569, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38569, GHSA-m89v-jrp4-5q36, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2025-38569, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-38569, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2025-38569, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-38569, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38569

## What is CVE-2025-38569?

CVE-2025-38569 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 19 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:

benet: fix BUG when creating VFs

benet crashes as soon as SRIOV VFs are created:

 kernel BUG at mm/vmalloc.c:3457!
 Oops: invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] SMP KASAN NOPTI
 CPU: 4 UID: 0 PID: 7408 Comm: test.sh Kdump: loaded Not tainted 6.16.0+ #1 PREEMPT(voluntary)
 [...]
 RIP: 0010:vunmap+0x5f/0x70
 [...]
 Call Trace:
  <TASK>
  __iommu_dma_free+0xe8/0x1c0
  be_cmd_set_mac_list+0x3fe/0x640 [be2net]
  be_cmd_set_mac+0xaf/0x110 [be2net]
  be_vf_eth_addr_config+0x19f/0x330 [be2net]
  be_vf_setup+0x4f7/0x990 [be2net]
  be_pci_sriov_configure+0x3a1/0x470 [be2net]
  sriov_numvfs_store+0x20b/0x380
  kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x354/0x530
  vfs_write+0x9b9/0xf60
  ksys_write+0xf3/0x1d0
  do_syscall_64+0x8c/0x3d0

be_cmd_set_mac_list() calls dma_free_coherent() under a spin_lock_bh.
Fix it by freeing only after the lock has been released.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38569?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Debian Debian Linux, Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-38569?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-38569 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38569 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux

- [CVE-2015-3306](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-3306/): ProFTPD Improper Access Control (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-49113](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-49113/): RoundCube Webmail Deserialization of Untrusted Data (critical 9.9, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-24061](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-24061/): GNU InetUtils Argument Injection (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-39682](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-39682/): Linux Kernel Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-9680](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-9680/): Mozilla Firefox Use-After-Free (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-38569 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-38569 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 19 Aug 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-2025-38569 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Debian Debian Linux. 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-2025-38569/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38569/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38569
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38569
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-38569

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38569/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.