Local privilege escalation via af_packet locking violation
Published Jul 3, 2025 · Updated Aug 5, 2026
Improper locking in the af_packet subsystem in Linux 6.15 through 6.15.2 allows local users to gain kernel-level control. packet_notifier calls packet_dev_mc inside an RCU read-side critical section, then NETDEV_UNREGISTER takes a sleeping netdev mutex and permits stale packet_sock access. Exploitation requires CAP_NET_RAW and CAP_NET_ADMIN in a local user namespace and can disclose or corrupt kernel memory or crash the host.
Summary
What happened
Improper locking in the af_packet subsystem in Linux 6.15 through 6.15.2 allows local users to gain kernel-level control. packet_notifier calls packet_dev_mc inside an RCU read-side critical section, then NETDEV_UNREGISTER takes a sleeping netdev mutex and permits stale packet_sock access. Exploitation requires CAP_NET_RAW and CAP_NET_ADMIN in a local user namespace and can disclose or corrupt kernel memory or crash the host.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-38150
- Published
- Jul 3, 2025
- Updated
- Aug 5, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jul 3, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 5, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
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- Affected versionversion=6.15
- Affected versionversion=ad7c7b2172c388818a111455643491d75f535e90 <2dd4781c5af99415ebbd2f7cc763feb109863c05
- Affected versionversion=ad7c7b2172c388818a111455643491d75f535e90 <d8d85ef0a631df9127f202e6371bb33a0b589952
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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