CVE-2025-38461
Description
From CVE.org
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: vsock: Fix transport_* TOCTOU Transport assignment may race with module unload. Protect new_transport from becoming a stale pointer. This also takes care of an insecure call in vsock_use_local_transport(); add a lockdep assert. BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: fffffbfff8056000 Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP KASAN RIP: 0010:vsock_assign_transport+0x366/0x600 Call Trace: vsock_connect+0x59c/0xc40 __sys_connect+0xe8/0x100 __x64_sys_connect+0x6e/0xc0 do_syscall_64+0x92/0x1c0 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x4b/0x53
Statement
This patch addresses a race condition in the vsock core that could lead to a use-after-free or NULL pointer dereference when assigning transports during socket initialization. The vulnerability stems from a lack of synchronization between transport selection and potential module unloading, leading to stale pointers being dereferenced. A mutex now protects access to the transport selection logic, and reference counting ensures the module is retained during use. The issue has low impact on confidentiality, but may cause a system crash, resulting in high availability impact. Since the problem is reachable by unprivileged users via socket operations, Privileges Required = Low (for the CVSS). While the issue is most clearly triggered during manual module unload, similar conditions can also arise from automatic module unloading, hotplug scripts, or asynchronous transport (de)registration in multi-threaded environments.
Mitigation
To mitigate this issue, prevent module vsock from being loaded. Please see https://access.redhat.com/solutions/41278 for how to blacklist a kernel module to prevent it from loading automatically.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 7.3 | 4.7 | 7 |
| Attack Vector | Local | Local | Local |
| Attack Complexity | Low | High | High |
| Privileges Required | Low | Low | Low |
| User Interaction | None | None | None |
| Scope | Unchanged | Unchanged | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | Low | None | High |
| Integrity Impact | High | None | High |
| Availability Impact | High | High | High |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:H
NVD: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Other
Technical Impact: Other
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