Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2025-38614

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-08-19
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2.6.33 / 2.6.34 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click Patch available

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: eventpoll: Fix semi-unbounded recursion Ensure that epoll instances can never form a graph deeper than EP_MAX_NESTS+1 links. Currently, ep_loop_check_proc() ensures that the graph is loop-free and does some recursion depth checks, but those recursion depth checks don't limit the depth of the resulting tree for two reasons: - They don't look upwards in the tree. - If there are multiple downwards paths of different lengths, only one of the paths is actually considered for the depth check since commit 28d82dc1c4ed ("epoll: limit paths"). Essentially, the current recursion depth check in ep_loop_check_proc() just serves to prevent it from recursing too deeply while checking for loops. A more thorough check is done in reverse_path_check() after the new graph edge has already been created; this checks, among other things, that no paths going upwards from any non-epoll file with a length of more than 5 edges exist. However, this check does not apply to non-epoll files. As a result, it is possible to recurse to a depth of at least roughly 500, tested on v6.15. (I am unsure if deeper recursion is possible; and this may have changed with commit 8c44dac8add7 ("eventpoll: Fix priority inversion problem").) To fix it: 1. In ep_loop_check_proc(), note the subtree depth of each visited node, and use subtree depths for the total depth calculation even when a subtree has already been visited. 2. Add ep_get_upwards_depth_proc() for similarly determining the maximum depth of an upwards walk. 3. In ep_loop_check(), use these values to limit the total path length between epoll nodes to EP_MAX_NESTS edges.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis

A detailed technical summary for this CVE is being prepared.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Linux KernelOperating system
Affected:>= 2.6.32.30, < 2.6.33>= 2.6.33.8, < 2.6.34>= 2.6.34.10, < 2.6.35>= 2.6.35.12, < 2.6.36>= 2.6.37.3, < 2.6.38>= 2.6.38.1, < 5.15.190>= 5.16, < 6.1.149>= 6.2, < 6.6.103>= 6.7, < 6.12.43>= 6.13, < 6.15.11>= 6.16, < 6.16.1= 2.6.38
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 11.0

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 2.6.33 / 2.6.34 / 2.6.35 or later
Fixed in 2.6.332.6.342.6.35
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Linux Kernel 2.6.36+ or 3.x/4.x/5.x/6.x stable kernels; Debian 12+

  1. 1. Identify the current running kernel version using `uname -r`
  2. 2. For Debian 11.0 (bullseye), upgrade to a newer Debian release that includes a patched kernel, such as Debian 12 (bookworm) which has kernel >= 6.1
  3. 3. If upgrading the entire distribution is not feasible, consider building a custom kernel from source using the fixed commit 1b13b033062824495554e836a1ff5f85ccf6b039 or later stable branches
  4. 4. After kernel upgrade, reboot into the new kernel
  5. 5. Verify the fix is applied by checking that EP_MAX_NESTS (typically 5) limits are enforced in epoll operations using `cat /proc/sys/kernel/epoll_max_nests` if the sysctl exists, or by testing epoll nesting depth programmatically
Caveat Upgrading kernel may require system reboot and could introduce compatibility issues with custom kernel modules or older drivers. Upgrading Debian 11 to 12 requires standard distribution upgrade procedures.

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

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