Linux Kernel up to 5.15.182 Netfilter ahash_bucket_start race condition

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 5.15.182. It has been classified as problematic. This vulnerability affects the function ahash_bucket_start of the component Netfilter. The manipulation leads to race condition. This vulnerability is documented as CVE-2025-37997. There is not any exploit available. Upgrading the affected component is recommended.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 5.15.182. This issue affects the function ahash_bucket_start of the component Netfilter. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a race condition vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-362. The product contains a code sequence that can run concurrently with other code, and the code sequence requires temporary, exclusive access to a shared resource, but a timing window exists in which the shared resource can be modified by another code sequence that is operating concurrently. The impact remains unknown. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netfilter: ipset: fix region locking in hash types Region locking introduced in v5.6-rc4 contained three macros to handle the region locks: ahash_bucket_start(), ahash_bucket_end() which gave back the start and end hash bucket values belonging to a given region lock and ahash_region() which should give back the region lock belonging to a given hash bucket. The latter was incorrect which can lead to a race condition between the garbage collector and adding new elements when a hash type of set is defined with timeouts.

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2025-37997 since 04/16/2025. The exploitation is known to be difficult. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 241176 (Ubuntu 20.04 LTS / 22.04 LTS : Linux kernel vulnerabilities (USN-7608-1)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 5.15.183, 6.1.139, 6.6.91, 6.12.29 or 6.14.7 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 82c1eb32693bc48251d92532975e19160987e5b9/aa77294b0f73bb8265987591460cd25b8722c3df/a3dfec485401943e315c394c29afe2db8f9481d6/e2ab67672b2288521a6146034a971f9a82ffc5c5/6e002ecc1c8cfdfc866b9104ab7888da54613e59/8478a729c0462273188263136880480729e9efca is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (241176), EUVD (EUVD-2025-16383) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-1201). Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

Affected

• Google Container-Optimized OS
• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• NetApp AFF
• RESF Rocky Linux
• Dell Avamar
• NetApp FAS
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• Dell NetWorker
• Dell Secure Connect Gateway

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 5.15.182

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Entryinfo

Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

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