vmxnet3: Fix malformed packet sizing in vmxnet3_process_xdp
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · Low · Low
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: vmxnet3: Fix malformed packet sizing in vmxnet3_process_xdp vmxnet3 driver's XDP handling is buggy for packet sizes using ring0 (that is, packet sizes between 128 - 3k bytes). We noticed MTU-related connectivity issues with Cilium's service load- balancing in case of vmxnet3 as NIC underneath. A simple curl to a HTTP backend service where the XDP LB was doing IPIP encap led to overly large packet sizes but only for *some* of the packets (e.g. HTTP GET request) while others (e.g. the prior TCP 3WHS) looked completely fine on the wire. In fact, the pcap recording on the backend node actually revealed that the node with the XDP LB was leaking uninitialized kernel data onto the wire for the affected packets, for example, while the packets should have been 152 bytes their actual size was 1482 bytes, so the remainder after 152 bytes was padded with whatever other data was in that page at the time (e.g. we saw user/payload data from prior processed packets). We only noticed this through an MTU issue, e.g. when the XDP LB node and the backend node both had the same MTU (e.g. 1500) then the curl request got dropped on the backend node's NIC given the packet was too large even though the IPIP-encapped packet normally would never even come close to the MTU limit. Lowering the MTU on the XDP LB (e.g. 1480) allowed to let the curl request succeed (which also indicates that the kernel ignored the padding, and thus the issue wasn't very user-visible). Commit e127ce7699c1 ("vmxnet3: Fix missing reserved tailroom") was too eager to also switch xdp_prepare_buff() from rcd->len to rbi->len. It really needs to stick to rcd->len which is the actual packet length from the descriptor. The latter we also feed into vmxnet3_process_xdp_small(), by the way, and it indicates the correct length needed to initialize the xdp->{data,data_end} parts. For e127ce7699c1 ("vmxnet3: Fix missing reserved tailroom") the relevant part was adapting xdp_init_buff() to address the warning given the xdp_data_hard_end() depends on xdp->frame_sz. With that fixed, traffic on the wire looks good again.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | 6.6.23 to before 6.6.89; 6.7.11 to before 6.8; 6.8.2 to before 6.9 | 6.6.89, 6.8, 6.9 | Patch available | CNA |
| Linux | Linux | 6.9 and later | 6.6.89, 6.12.26, 6.14.5, 6.15 | Patch available | CNA |
- Linux VendorLinux Affected 6.6.23 to before 6.6.89; 6.7.11 to before 6.8; 6.8.2 to before 6.9 Fixed in 6.6.89, 6.8, 6.9 Patch available CNA
- Linux VendorLinux Affected 6.9 and later Fixed in 6.6.89, 6.12.26, 6.14.5, 6.15 Patch available CNA
CPE configurations NVD · 5
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.6.23 to before 6.6.89; 6.7.11 to before 6.8; 6.8.2 to before 6.12.26; 6.13 to before 6.14.5 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.15:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.15 rc1 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.15:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.15 rc2 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.15:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.15 rc3 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.15:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.15 rc4 | Vulnerable | Linux |
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.6.23 to before 6.6.89; 6.7.11 to before 6.8; 6.8.2 to before 6.12.26; 6.13 to before 6.14.5 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.15:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.15 rc1 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.15:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.15 rc2 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.15:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.15 rc3 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.15:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.15 rc4 Vulnerable ·Linux
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 6.6.89, 6.8, 6.9
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 6.6.89, 6.12.26, 6.14.5, 6.15
Red Hat 3 advisories
- RHSA-2025:10674 Released 2025-07-09 · Red Hat rating Importantkpatch-patch-5_14_0-570_17_1 security update
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 9) kpatch-patch-5_14_0-570_17_1-1-3.el9_6
- RHSA-2025:10379 Released 2025-07-07 · Red Hat rating Importantkernel security update
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 9) kernel-64k-debug-devel-5.14.0-570.25.1.el9_6, kernel-64k-debug-devel-matched-5.14.0-570.25.1.el9_6, kernel-64k-devel-5.14.0-570.25.1.el9_6 +12
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 9) kernel-5.14.0-570.25.1.el9_6, kernel-64k-5.14.0-570.25.1.el9_6, kernel-64k-core-5.14.0-570.25.1.el9_6 +28
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux CodeReady Linux Builder (v. 9) kernel-tools-libs-devel-5.14.0-570.25.1.el9_6, libperf-5.14.0-570.25.1.el9_6
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time (v. 9) kernel-rt-5.14.0-570.25.1.el9_6, kernel-rt-64k-5.14.0-570.25.1.el9_6, kernel-rt-64k-core-5.14.0-570.25.1.el9_6 +21
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time for NFV (v. 9) kernel-rt-5.14.0-570.25.1.el9_6, kernel-rt-core-5.14.0-570.25.1.el9_6, kernel-rt-debug-5.14.0-570.25.1.el9_6 +11
- RHSA-2025:10371 Released 2025-07-07 · Red Hat rating Importantkernel security update
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 10) kernel-64k-debug-devel-6.12.0-55.20.1.el10_0, kernel-64k-debug-devel-matched-6.12.0-55.20.1.el10_0, kernel-64k-devel-6.12.0-55.20.1.el10_0 +12
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 10) kernel-6.12.0-55.20.1.el10_0, kernel-64k-6.12.0-55.20.1.el10_0, kernel-64k-core-6.12.0-55.20.1.el10_0 +28
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux CodeReady Linux Builder (v. 10) kernel-tools-libs-devel-6.12.0-55.20.1.el10_0, libperf-6.12.0-55.20.1.el10_0
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time (v. 10) kernel-rt-6.12.0-55.20.1.el10_0, kernel-rt-64k-6.12.0-55.20.1.el10_0, kernel-rt-64k-core-6.12.0-55.20.1.el10_0 +21
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time for NFV (v. 10) kernel-rt-6.12.0-55.20.1.el10_0, kernel-rt-core-6.12.0-55.20.1.el10_0, kernel-rt-debug-6.12.0-55.20.1.el10_0 +11
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Important. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 10) | Fixed | RHSA-2025:10371 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 9) | Fixed | RHSA-2025:10379 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 10) | Fixed | RHSA-2025:10371 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 9) | Fixed | RHSA-2025:10379, RHSA-2025:10674 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux CodeReady Linux Builder (v. 10) | Fixed | RHSA-2025:10371 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux CodeReady Linux Builder (v. 9) | Fixed | RHSA-2025:10379 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time (v. 10) | Fixed | RHSA-2025:10371 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time (v. 9) | Fixed | RHSA-2025:10379 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time for NFV (v. 10) | Fixed | RHSA-2025:10371 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time for NFV (v. 9) | Fixed | RHSA-2025:10379 |
Not affected: 4 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2025-37799
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-5w6m-x8hm-6jcv
- 2026-10-30 CVSS score changed · Red Hat
References
More Linux Kernel vulnerabilities
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- TI-2013-05264 The (1) get_user and (2) put_user API functions in the Linux kernel before 3.5.5 on the… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2022-00125 Integer overflow in kernel KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
- TI-2013-01864 The perf_swevent_init function in kernel/events/core.c in the Linux kernel before 3.8.9… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
- TI-2021-05514 Heap Out-Of-Bounds Write in Netfilter IP6T_SO_SET_REPLACE KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.3
Sources
- CVE-2025-37799 · CVE Program
- CVE-2025-37799 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-5w6m-x8hm-6jcv · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2025-37799 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences