# CVE-2025-39677: net/sched: Fix backlog accounting in qdisc_dequeue_internal

> An integer underflow in Linux kernel qdisc backlog accounting can cause network queue corruption and potential denial of service.

- **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:** 5 Sep 2025
- **Updated:** 21 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-66986, AZL-70789, BELL-CVE-2025-39677, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-39677, GHSA-jcgr-c7xg-m62q, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2025-39677, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-39677, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2025-39677, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-39677, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-39677, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-39677

## What is CVE-2025-39677?

CVE-2025-39677 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 5 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:

net/sched: Fix backlog accounting in qdisc_dequeue_internal

This issue applies for the following qdiscs: hhf, fq, fq_codel, and
fq_pie, and occurs in their change handlers when adjusting to the new
limit. The problem is the following in the values passed to the
subsequent qdisc_tree_reduce_backlog call given a tbf parent:

   When the tbf parent runs out of tokens, skbs of these qdiscs will
   be placed in gso_skb. Their peek handlers are qdisc_peek_dequeued,
   which accounts for both qlen and backlog. However, in the case of
   qdisc_dequeue_internal, ONLY qlen is accounted for when pulling
   from gso_skb. This means that these qdiscs are missing a
   qdisc_qstats_backlog_dec when dropping packets to satisfy the
   new limit in their change handlers.

   One can observe this issue with the following (with tc patched to
   support a limit of 0):

   export TARGET=fq
   tc qdisc del dev lo root
   tc qdisc add dev lo root handle 1: tbf rate 8bit burst 100b latency 1ms
   tc qdisc replace dev lo handle 3: parent 1:1 $TARGET limit 1000
   echo ''; echo 'add child'; tc -s -d qdisc show dev lo
   ping -I lo -f -c2 -s32 -W0.001 127.0.0.1 2>&1 >/dev/null
   echo ''; echo 'after ping'; tc -s -d qdisc show dev lo
   tc qdisc change dev lo handle 3: parent 1:1 $TARGET limit 0
   echo ''; echo 'after limit drop'; tc -s -d qdisc show dev lo
   tc qdisc replace dev lo handle 2: parent 1:1 sfq
   echo ''; echo 'post graft'; tc -s -d qdisc show dev lo

   The second to last show command shows 0 packets but a positive
   number (74) of backlog bytes. The problem becomes clearer in the
   last show command, where qdisc_purge_queue triggers
   qdisc_tree_reduce_backlog with the positive backlog and causes an
   underflow in the tbf parent's backlog (4096 Mb instead of 0).

To fix this issue, the codepath for all clients of qdisc_dequeue_internal
has been simplified: codel, pie, hhf, fq, fq_pie, and fq_codel.
qdisc_dequeue_internal handles the backlog adjustments for all cases that
do not directly use the dequeue handler.

The old fq_codel_change limit adjustment loop accumulated the arguments to
the subsequent qdisc_tree_reduce_backlog call through the cstats field.
However, this is confusing and error prone as fq_codel_dequeue could also
potentially mutate this field (which qdisc_dequeue_internal calls in the
non gso_skb case), so we have unified the code here with other qdiscs.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-39677?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-39677?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-39677 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-39677 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-2025-39677 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-39677 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 5 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-2025-39677 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-2025-39677/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-39677/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-39677
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-39677
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-39677

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-39677/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.