Linux Kernel up to 6.12.34/6.15.3/6.16-rc2 ice pcpu_alloc_noprof memory leak

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.34/6.15.3/6.16-rc2. The impacted element is the function pcpu_alloc_noprof of the component ice. The manipulation results in memory leak. This vulnerability is identified as CVE-2025-38417. There is not any exploit available. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.34/6.15.3/6.16-rc2. Affected is the function pcpu_alloc_noprof of the component ice. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a memory leak vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-401. The product does not sufficiently track and release allocated memory after it has been used, which slowly consumes remaining memory. This is going to have an impact on availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ice: fix eswitch code memory leak in reset scenario Add simple eswitch mode checker in attaching VF procedure and allocate required port representor memory structures only in switchdev mode. The reset flows triggers VF (if present) detach/attach procedure. It might involve VF port representor(s) re-creation if the device is configured is switchdev mode (not legacy one). The memory was blindly allocated in current implementation, regardless of the mode and not freed if in legacy mode. Kmemeleak trace: unreferenced object (percpu) 0x7e3bce5b888458 (size 40): comm "bash", pid 1784, jiffies 4295743894 hex dump (first 32 bytes on cpu 45): 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ backtrace (crc 0): pcpu_alloc_noprof+0x4c4/0x7c0 ice_repr_create+0x66/0x130 [ice] ice_repr_create_vf+0x22/0x70 [ice] ice_eswitch_attach_vf+0x1b/0xa0 [ice] ice_reset_all_vfs+0x1dd/0x2f0 [ice] ice_pci_err_resume+0x3b/0xb0 [ice] pci_reset_function+0x8f/0x120 reset_store+0x56/0xa0 kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x120/0x1b0 vfs_write+0x31c/0x430 ksys_write+0x61/0xd0 do_syscall_64+0x5b/0x180 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e Testing hints (ethX is PF netdev): - create at least one VF echo 1 > /sys/class/net/ethX/device/sriov_numvfs - trigger the reset echo 1 > /sys/class/net/ethX/device/reset

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2025-38417 since 04/16/2025. The exploitability is told to be difficult. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 254411 (RHEL 9 : kernel (RHSA-2025:14420)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.12.35, 6.15.4 or 6.16-rc3 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch d6715193de439b79f1d6a4c03593c7529239b545/e97a7a051b55f55f276c1568491d0ed7f890ee94/48c8b214974dc55283bd5f12e3a483b27c403bbc 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 (254411), EUVD (EUVD-2025-22669) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-1653). Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Affected

• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• IBM QRadar SIEM
• SUSE openSUSE
• RESF Rocky Linux
• Dell Avamar
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• Dell NetWorker
• Dell Secure Connect Gateway

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.12.0
• 6.12.1
• 6.12.2
• 6.12.3
• 6.12.4
• 6.12.5
• 6.12.6
• 6.12.7
• 6.12.8
• 6.12.9
• 6.12.10
• 6.12.11
• 6.12.12
• 6.12.13
• 6.12.14
• 6.12.15
• 6.12.16
• 6.12.17
• 6.12.18
• 6.12.19
• 6.12.20
• 6.12.21
• 6.12.22
• 6.12.23
• 6.12.24
• 6.12.25
• 6.12.26
• 6.12.27
• 6.12.28
• 6.12.29
• 6.12.30
• 6.12.31
• 6.12.32
• 6.12.33
• 6.12.34
• 6.15.0
• 6.15.1
• 6.15.2
• 6.15.3
• 6.16-rc1
• 6.16-rc2

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

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