CVE-2025-38502
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf: Fix oob access in cgroup local storage Lonial reported that an out-of-bounds access in cgroup local storage can be crafted via tail calls. Given two programs each utilizing a cgroup local storage with a different value size, and one program doing a tail call into the other. The verifier will validate each of the indivial programs just fine. However, in the runtime context the bpf_cg_run_ctx holds an bpf_prog_array_item which contains the BPF program as well as any cgroup local storage flavor the program uses. Helpers such as bpf_get_local_storage() pick this up from the runtime context: ctx = container_of(current->bpf_ctx, struct bpf_cg_run_ctx, run_ctx); storage = ctx->prog_item->cgroup_storage[stype]; if (stype == BPF_CGROUP_STORAGE_SHARED) ptr = &READ_ONCE(storage->buf)->data[0]; else ptr = this_cpu_ptr(storage->percpu_buf); For the second program which was called from the originally attached one, this means bpf_get_local_storage() will pick up the former program's map, not its own. With mismatching sizes, this can result in an unintended out-of-bounds access. To fix this issue, we need to extend bpf_map_owner with an array of storage_cookie[] to match on i) the exact maps from the original program if the second program was using bpf_get_local_storage(), or ii) allow the tail call combination if the second program was not using any of the cgroup local storage maps.
Predictions
Heuristic predictions, AS-IS, for prioritization only.
Mitigations
No mitigations published for this CVE yet.
The vendor-content worker queues fetches as references arrive (check back in a few minutes). Or โ if you've already worked around this in production โ publish your fix to the community-verified tier.
โ Propose a mitigation on Community โ Mitigations published via the community go through AI scoring + 2 human reviewers + 7-day silent objection window before landing here withsource_tier=community-verified.
OS impact
| OS | Version | Status | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| sles | affected | | |
| debian | bookworm | fixed | 6.1.153-1 |
| debian | bullseye | fixed | 6.1.153-1~deb11u1 |
| debian | forky | fixed | 6.16.3-1 |
| debian | sid | fixed | 6.16.3-1 |
| debian | trixie | fixed | 6.12.48-1 |
| linux-kernel | affected | 5.15.192 | |
| debian | 11.0 | affected | |
References
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/19341d5c59e8c7e8528e40f8663e99d67810473c
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/41688d1fc5d163a6c2c0e95c0419e2cb31a44648
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/66da7cee78590259b400e51a70622ccd41da7bb2
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7acfa07c585e3d7a64654d38f0a5c762877d0b9b
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/abad3d0bad72a52137e0c350c59542d75ae4f513
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c1c74584b9b4043c52e41fec415226e582d266a3
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/10/msg00008.html
- https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-032379.html
- https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38502.html
- https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-38502
CWEs
CWE-125
Community-verified mitigations for this CVE will appear above when contributors publish them.
Verify integrity in audit chain (admin only). AS-IS.