# CVE-2025-38640: bpf: Disable migration in nf_hook_run_bpf().

> A race condition in the Linux kernel's netfilter BPF hook allows a local attacker to trigger a kernel assertion failure and crash the system.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:** 22 Aug 2025
- **Updated:** 15 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-66644, BELL-CVE-2025-38640, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38640, GHSA-v9p2-73m6-f3wv, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-38640, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38640

## What is CVE-2025-38640?

CVE-2025-38640 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 22 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:

bpf: Disable migration in nf_hook_run_bpf().

syzbot reported that the netfilter bpf prog can be called without
migration disabled in xmit path.

Then the assertion in __bpf_prog_run() fails, triggering the splat
below. [0]

Let's use bpf_prog_run_pin_on_cpu() in nf_hook_run_bpf().

[0]:
BUG: assuming non migratable context at ./include/linux/filter.h:703
in_atomic(): 0, irqs_disabled(): 0, migration_disabled() 0 pid: 5829, name: sshd-session
3 locks held by sshd-session/5829:
 #0: ffff88807b4e4218 (sk_lock-AF_INET){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: lock_sock include/net/sock.h:1667 [inline]
 #0: ffff88807b4e4218 (sk_lock-AF_INET){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: tcp_sendmsg+0x20/0x50 net/ipv4/tcp.c:1395
 #1: ffffffff8e5c4e00 (rcu_read_lock){....}-{1:3}, at: rcu_lock_acquire include/linux/rcupdate.h:331 [inline]
 #1: ffffffff8e5c4e00 (rcu_read_lock){....}-{1:3}, at: rcu_read_lock include/linux/rcupdate.h:841 [inline]
 #1: ffffffff8e5c4e00 (rcu_read_lock){....}-{1:3}, at: __ip_queue_xmit+0x69/0x26c0 net/ipv4/ip_output.c:470
 #2: ffffffff8e5c4e00 (rcu_read_lock){....}-{1:3}, at: rcu_lock_acquire include/linux/rcupdate.h:331 [inline]
 #2: ffffffff8e5c4e00 (rcu_read_lock){....}-{1:3}, at: rcu_read_lock include/linux/rcupdate.h:841 [inline]
 #2: ffffffff8e5c4e00 (rcu_read_lock){....}-{1:3}, at: nf_hook+0xb2/0x680 include/linux/netfilter.h:241
CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 5829 Comm: sshd-session Not tainted 6.16.0-rc6-syzkaller-00002-g155a3c003e55 #0 PREEMPT(full)
Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 05/07/2025
Call Trace:
 <TASK>
 __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:94 [inline]
 dump_stack_lvl+0x16c/0x1f0 lib/dump_stack.c:120
 __cant_migrate kernel/sched/core.c:8860 [inline]
 __cant_migrate+0x1c7/0x250 kernel/sched/core.c:8834
 __bpf_prog_run include/linux/filter.h:703 [inline]
 bpf_prog_run include/linux/filter.h:725 [inline]
 nf_hook_run_bpf+0x83/0x1e0 net/netfilter/nf_bpf_link.c:20
 nf_hook_entry_hookfn include/linux/netfilter.h:157 [inline]
 nf_hook_slow+0xbb/0x200 net/netfilter/core.c:623
 nf_hook+0x370/0x680 include/linux/netfilter.h:272
 NF_HOOK_COND include/linux/netfilter.h:305 [inline]
 ip_output+0x1bc/0x2a0 net/ipv4/ip_output.c:433
 dst_output include/net/dst.h:459 [inline]
 ip_local_out net/ipv4/ip_output.c:129 [inline]
 __ip_queue_xmit+0x1d7d/0x26c0 net/ipv4/ip_output.c:527
 __tcp_transmit_skb+0x2686/0x3e90 net/ipv4/tcp_output.c:1479
 tcp_transmit_skb net/ipv4/tcp_output.c:1497 [inline]
 tcp_write_xmit+0x1274/0x84e0 net/ipv4/tcp_output.c:2838
 __tcp_push_pending_frames+0xaf/0x390 net/ipv4/tcp_output.c:3021
 tcp_push+0x225/0x700 net/ipv4/tcp.c:759
 tcp_sendmsg_locked+0x1870/0x42b0 net/ipv4/tcp.c:1359
 tcp_sendmsg+0x2e/0x50 net/ipv4/tcp.c:1396
 inet_sendmsg+0xb9/0x140 net/ipv4/af_inet.c:851
 sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:712 [inline]
 __sock_sendmsg net/socket.c:727 [inline]
 sock_write_iter+0x4aa/0x5b0 net/socket.c:1131
 new_sync_write fs/read_write.c:593 [inline]
 vfs_write+0x6c7/0x1150 fs/read_write.c:686
 ksys_write+0x1f8/0x250 fs/read_write.c:738
 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline]
 do_syscall_64+0xcd/0x4c0 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94
 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f
RIP: 0033:0x7fe7d365d407
Code: 48 89 fa 4c 89 df e8 38 aa 00 00 8b 93 08 03 00 00 59 5e 48 83 f8 fc 74 1a 5b c3 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 48 8b 44 24 10 0f 05 <5b> c3 0f 1f 80 00 00 00 00 83 e2 39 83 fa 08 75 de e8 23 ff ff ff
RSP:

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38640?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-38640?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-38640 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38640 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-2025-38640 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-38640 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 22 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-2025-38640 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-2025-38640/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38640/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38640
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38640
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-38640

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38640/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.
