# CVE-2025-38727: netlink: avoid infinite retry looping in netlink_unicast()

> A logic error in the Linux kernel netlink subsystem causes an infinite retry loop, leading to a CPU stall and denial of service.

- **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:** 4 Sep 2025
- **Updated:** 15 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2025-38727, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38727, GHSA-5j63-8q43-chww, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2025-38727, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-38727, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-38727, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38727

## What is CVE-2025-38727?

CVE-2025-38727 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 4 Sep 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:

netlink: avoid infinite retry looping in netlink_unicast()

netlink_attachskb() checks for the socket's read memory allocation
constraints. Firstly, it has:

  rmem < READ_ONCE(sk->sk_rcvbuf)

to check if the just increased rmem value fits into the socket's receive
buffer. If not, it proceeds and tries to wait for the memory under:

  rmem + skb->truesize > READ_ONCE(sk->sk_rcvbuf)

The checks don't cover the case when skb->truesize + sk->sk_rmem_alloc is
equal to sk->sk_rcvbuf. Thus the function neither successfully accepts
these conditions, nor manages to reschedule the task - and is called in
retry loop for indefinite time which is caught as:

  rcu: INFO: rcu_sched self-detected stall on CPU
  rcu:     0-....: (25999 ticks this GP) idle=ef2/1/0x4000000000000000 softirq=262269/262269 fqs=6212
  (t=26000 jiffies g=230833 q=259957)
  NMI backtrace for cpu 0
  CPU: 0 PID: 22 Comm: kauditd Not tainted 5.10.240 #68
  Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.17.0-4.fc42 04/01/2014
  Call Trace:
  <IRQ>
  dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:120
  nmi_cpu_backtrace.cold lib/nmi_backtrace.c:105
  nmi_trigger_cpumask_backtrace lib/nmi_backtrace.c:62
  rcu_dump_cpu_stacks kernel/rcu/tree_stall.h:335
  rcu_sched_clock_irq.cold kernel/rcu/tree.c:2590
  update_process_times kernel/time/timer.c:1953
  tick_sched_handle kernel/time/tick-sched.c:227
  tick_sched_timer kernel/time/tick-sched.c:1399
  __hrtimer_run_queues kernel/time/hrtimer.c:1652
  hrtimer_interrupt kernel/time/hrtimer.c:1717
  __sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt arch/x86/kernel/apic/apic.c:1113
  asm_call_irq_on_stack arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:808
  </IRQ>

  netlink_attachskb net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1234
  netlink_unicast net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1349
  kauditd_send_queue kernel/audit.c:776
  kauditd_thread kernel/audit.c:897
  kthread kernel/kthread.c:328
  ret_from_fork arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:304

Restore the original behavior of the check which commit in Fixes
accidentally missed when restructuring the code.

Found by Linux Verification Center (linuxtesting.org).

Weakness: CWE-835 (Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38727?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Debian Debian Linux, Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-38727?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-38727 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38727 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux

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- [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-2025-38727 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-38727 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 4 Sep 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-2025-38727 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-2025-38727/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38727/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38727
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38727
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-38727

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38727/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.