CVE-2025-38146

CriticalCVSS 9.4

Published: 03/07/2025(UTC)Updated: 30/07/2026(UTC)Translated: 30/07/2026(UTC)NVD NIST

Exploitation Probability (EPSS)

Low risk

0.40%

33th percentile - higher than 33% of all known CVEs

Summary

In the Linux kernel, a vulnerability in the openvswitch module causes an infinite loop when parsing MPLS packets. An unexpected MPLS packet may lack the bottom label stack, and with many labels the counter wraps, leading to a dead loop and CPU soft lockup.

Risk Assessment

An attacker can send a crafted MPLS packet causing CPU soft lockup on a vulnerable Linux kernel, resulting in denial of service (DoS) in environments using Open vSwitch.

Recommendation

Immediately update the Linux kernel to a patched version (e.g., 5.15.x with appropriate backport) or apply the fix available in your distribution's repository.

Original NVD description (English source)

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: openvswitch: Fix the dead loop of MPLS parse The unexpected MPLS packet may not end with the bottom label stack. When there are many stacks, The label count value has wrapped around. A dead loop occurs, soft lockup/CPU stuck finally. stack backtrace: UBSAN: array-index-out-of-bounds in /build/linux-0Pa0xK/linux-5.15.0/net/openvswitch/flow.c:662:26 index -1 is out of range for type '__be32 [3]' CPU: 34 PID: 0 Comm: swapper/34 Kdump: loaded Tainted: G OE 5.15.0-121-generic #131-Ubuntu Hardware name: Dell Inc. PowerEdge C6420/0JP9TF, BIOS 2.12.2 07/14/2021 Call Trace: <IRQ> show_stack+0x52/0x5c dump_stack_lvl+0x4a/0x63 dump_stack+0x10/0x16 ubsan_epilogue+0x9/0x36 __ubsan_handle_out_of_bounds.cold+0x44/0x49 key_extract_l3l4+0x82a/0x840 [openvswitch] ? kfree_skbmem+0x52/0xa0 key_extract+0x9c/0x2b0 [openvswitch] ovs_flow_key_extract+0x124/0x350 [openvswitch] ovs_vport_receive+0x61/0xd0 [openvswitch] ? kernel_init_free_pages.part.0+0x4a/0x70 ? get_page_from_freelist+0x353/0x540 netdev_port_receive+0xc4/0x180 [openvswitch] ? netdev_port_receive+0x180/0x180 [openvswitch] netdev_frame_hook+0x1f/0x40 [openvswitch] __netif_receive_skb_core.constprop.0+0x23a/0xf00 __netif_receive_skb_list_core+0xfa/0x240 netif_receive_skb_list_internal+0x18e/0x2a0 napi_complete_done+0x7a/0x1c0 bnxt_poll+0x155/0x1c0 [bnxt_en] __napi_poll+0x30/0x180 net_rx_action+0x126/0x280 ? bnxt_msix+0x67/0x80 [bnxt_en] handle_softirqs+0xda/0x2d0 irq_exit_rcu+0x96/0xc0 common_interrupt+0x8e/0xa0 </IRQ>