Linux Kernel up to 6.15.10/6.16.1/6.17-rc1 Hibmcge Driver reset_prepare deadlock

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.15.10/6.16.1/6.17-rc1 and classified as critical. This issue affects the function reset_prepare of the component Hibmcge Driver. The manipulation leads to deadlock. This vulnerability is referenced as CVE-2025-38720. No exploit is available. The affected component should be upgraded.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.15.10/6.16.1/6.17-rc1. This issue affects the function reset_prepare of the component Hibmcge Driver. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a deadlock vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-833. The product contains multiple threads or executable segments that are waiting for each other to release a necessary lock, resulting in deadlock. Impacted is availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: hibmcge: fix rtnl deadlock issue Currently, the hibmcge netdev acquires the rtnl_lock in pci_error_handlers.reset_prepare() and releases it in pci_error_handlers.reset_done(). However, in the PCI framework: pci_reset_bus - __pci_reset_slot - pci_slot_save_and_disable_locked - pci_dev_save_and_disable - err_handler->reset_prepare(dev); In pci_slot_save_and_disable_locked(): list_for_each_entry(dev, &slot->bus->devices, bus_list) { if (!dev->slot || dev->slot!= slot) continue; pci_dev_save_and_disable(dev); if (dev->subordinate) pci_bus_save_and_disable_locked(dev->subordinate); } This will iterate through all devices under the current bus and execute err_handler->reset_prepare(), causing two devices of the hibmcge driver to sequentially request the rtnl_lock, leading to a deadlock. Since the driver now executes netif_device_detach() before the reset process, it will not concurrently with other netdev APIs, so there is no need to hold the rtnl_lock now. Therefore, this patch removes the rtnl_lock during the reset process and adjusts the position of HBG_NIC_STATE_RESETTING to ensure that multiple resets are not executed concurrently.

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2025-38720 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 264698 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2025-38720), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.15.11, 6.16.2 or 6.17-rc2 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch d85a6346fd6f595c4914205762d0cdf35c004a5e/1343a8994ca7dba78f5dd818e89d68331c21c35d/c875503a9b9082928d7d3fc60b5400d16fbfae4e 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 (264698) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-1976). Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

Affected

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

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.15.0
• 6.15.1
• 6.15.2
• 6.15.3
• 6.15.4
• 6.15.5
• 6.15.6
• 6.15.7
• 6.15.8
• 6.15.9
• 6.15.10
• 6.16.0
• 6.16.1
• 6.17-rc1

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Entryinfo

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