CVE-2025-38551

Guest hang via recursive probe-time rtnl_lock acquisition

Published Aug 16, 2025 · Updated May 23, 2026

Deadlock in the virtio-net driver in Linux allows attackers controlling the VMM to hang the guest during network-device probing. During virtnet_probe(), synchronous config-work processing reaches netdev_notify_peers and recursively acquires the rtnl_lock already held by the probe path. Exploitation requires control of the VMM to send VIRTIO_NET_S_ANNOUNCE before configuration notifications are enabled; the reported impact is a guest-kernel hang.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.12%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Deadlock in the virtio-net driver in Linux allows attackers controlling the VMM to hang the guest during network-device probing. During virtnet_probe(), synchronous config-work processing reaches netdev_notify_peers and recursively acquires the rtnl_lock already held by the probe path. Exploitation requires control of the VMM to send VIRTIO_NET_S_ANNOUNCE before configuration notifications are enabled; the reported impact is a guest-kernel hang.

The record

CVE
CVE-2025-38551
Published
Aug 16, 2025
Updated
May 23, 2026
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
CWE-667, T1499
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Aug 16, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. May 23, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=6.11.2 <6.12
  2. Affected versionversion=6.12
  3. Affected versionversion=cb06b26bb2e6d2c6a32f65f7bb1b7dcbe033d675
  4. Affected versionversion=df28de7b00502761eba62490f413c65c9b175ed9 <3859f137b3c1fa1f0031d54263234566bdcdd7aa
  5. Affected versionversion=df28de7b00502761eba62490f413c65c9b175ed9 <4e7c46362550b229354aeb52038f414e231b0037
  6. Affected versionversion=df28de7b00502761eba62490f413c65c9b175ed9 <be5dcaed694e4255dc02dd0acfe036708c535def

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=6.11.2 <6.12; version=6.12; version=cb06b26bb2e6d2c6a32f65f7bb1b7dcbe033d675; version=df28de7b00502761eba62490f413c65c9b175ed9 <3859f137b3c1fa1f0031d54263234566bdcdd7aa; version=df28de7b00502761eba62490f413c65c9b175ed9 <4e7c46362550b229354aeb52038f414e231b0037; version=df28de7b00502761eba62490f413c65c9b175ed9 <be5dcaed694e4255dc02dd0acfe036708c535def

Published CVSS scores

5.5Oracle LinuxCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
5.5Amazon LinuxCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
5.5NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
5.5UbuntuCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
5.5SUSECVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-667Improper Locking
T1499Endpoint Denial of Service

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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