CPU soft lockup via negative tail-call offset
Published Sep 4, 2025 · Updated May 12, 2026
Improper input validation in the LoongArch BPF JIT in Linux allows local users to trigger a CPU soft lockup through BPF tail calls. An extra bpf_int_jit_compile pass skips JIT-context initialization, leaves out_offset at -1, and makes emit_bpf_tail_call generate a negative jump offset. Successful triggering requires a LoongArch system and the ability to load the affected BPF tail-call workload; the documented consequence is a watchdog-reported CPU stall.
Summary
What happened
Improper input validation in the LoongArch BPF JIT in Linux allows local users to trigger a CPU soft lockup through BPF tail calls. An extra bpf_int_jit_compile pass skips JIT-context initialization, leaves out_offset at -1, and makes emit_bpf_tail_call generate a negative jump offset. Successful triggering requires a LoongArch system and the ability to load the affected BPF tail-call workload; the documented consequence is a watchdog-reported CPU stall.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-38723
- Published
- Sep 4, 2025
- Updated
- May 12, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-20, T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 4, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 12, 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=5dc615520c4dfb358245680f1904bad61116648e <17c010fe45def335fe03a0718935416b04c7f349
- Affected versionversion=5dc615520c4dfb358245680f1904bad61116648e <1a782fa32e644aa9fbae6c8488f3e61221ac96e1
- Affected versionversion=5dc615520c4dfb358245680f1904bad61116648e <9262e3e04621558e875eb5afb5e726b648cd5949
- Affected versionversion=5dc615520c4dfb358245680f1904bad61116648e <cd39d9e6b7e4c58fa77783e7aedf7ada51d02ea3
- Affected versionversion=5dc615520c4dfb358245680f1904bad61116648e <f2b5e50cc04d7a049b385bc1c93b9cbf5f10c94f
- Affected versionversion=5dc615520c4dfb358245680f1904bad61116648e <f83d469e16bb1f75991ca67c56786fb2aaa42bea
- Affected versionversion=6.1
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
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Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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