IM
IronMonkey Threat Research

CVE-2025-38721 MEDIUM

Published: 2025-09-04 | Last Modified: 2026-07-14 | Status: Modified

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netfilter: ctnetlink: fix refcount leak on table dump There is a reference count leak in ctnetlink_dump_table(): if (res < 0) { nf_conntrack_get(&ct->ct_general); // HERE cb->args[1] = (unsigned long)ct; ... While its very unlikely, its possible that ct == last. If this happens, then the refcount of ct was already incremented. This 2nd increment is never undone. This prevents the conntrack object from being released, which in turn keeps prevents cnet->count from dropping back to 0. This will then block the netns dismantle (or conntrack rmmod) as nf_conntrack_cleanup_net_list() will wait forever. This can be reproduced by running conntrack_resize.sh selftest in a loop. It takes ~20 minutes for me on a preemptible kernel on average before I see a runaway kworker spinning in nf_conntrack_cleanup_net_list. One fix would to change this to: if (res < 0) { if (ct != last) nf_conntrack_get(&ct->ct_general); But this reference counting isn't needed in the first place. We can just store a cookie value instead. A followup patch will do the same for ctnetlink_exp_dump_table, it looks to me as if this has the same problem and like ctnetlink_dump_table, we only need a 'skip hint', not the actual object so we can apply the same cookie strategy there as well.

CVSS Metrics

Base Score: 5.5 (MEDIUM)

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

Attack VectorLOCAL
Attack ComplexityLOW
Privileges RequiredLOW
User InteractionNONE
ScopeUNCHANGED
Confidentiality ImpactNONE
Integrity ImpactNONE
Availability ImpactHIGH

Source: [email protected]

Type: Primary

Exploitability Score: 1.8

Impact Score: 3.6

Weaknesses

Source Type Description
[email protected] Primary
en NVD-CWE-Other

Affected Products

Vendor Product Version Update Type
linux linux_kernel * <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702b835cc280> Operating System
linux linux_kernel * <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702bde537000> Operating System
linux linux_kernel * <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702b835cc380> Operating System
linux linux_kernel * <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702b835cc240> Operating System
linux linux_kernel * <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702b835cd3c0> Operating System
linux linux_kernel * <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702bde36bf00> Operating System
linux linux_kernel * <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702b82af1f00> Operating System
linux linux_kernel * <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702b82af3300> Operating System
linux linux_kernel 2.6.18 <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702b4bc5dc00> Operating System
linux linux_kernel 2.6.18 <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702b835cebc0> Operating System
linux linux_kernel 2.6.18 <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702bde7878c0> Operating System
linux linux_kernel 2.6.18 <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702b4bc5edc0> Operating System
linux linux_kernel 6.17 <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702b835cf700> Operating System
debian debian_linux 11.0 <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702b4bc5f680> Operating System

Affected Configurations

Operator: OR

Vulnerable CPE
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:2.6.18:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:2.6.18:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:2.6.18:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:2.6.18:rc7:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.17:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*

Operator: OR

Vulnerable CPE
Yes cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References

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