tls: handle data disappearing from under the TLS ULP
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 2 without a fix
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: tls: handle data disappearing from under the TLS ULP TLS expects that it owns the receive queue of the TCP socket. This cannot be guaranteed in case the reader of the TCP socket entered before the TLS ULP was installed, or uses some non-standard read API (eg. zerocopy ones). Replace the WARN_ON() and a buggy early exit (which leaves anchor pointing to a freed skb) with real error handling. Wipe the parsing state and tell the reader to retry. We already reload the anchor every time we (re)acquire the socket lock, so the only condition we need to avoid is an out of bounds read (not having enough bytes in the socket for previously parsed record len). If some data was read from under TLS but there's enough in the queue we'll reload and decrypt what is most likely not a valid TLS record. Leading to some undefined behavior from TLS perspective (corrupting a stream? missing an alert? missing an attack?) but no kernel crash should take place.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | 6.0 and later | 6.1.185, 6.6.103, 6.12.43, 6.15.11, 6.16.2, 6.17 | Patch available | CNA |
- Linux VendorLinux Affected 6.0 and later Fixed in 6.1.185, 6.6.103, 6.12.43, 6.15.11, 6.16.2, 6.17 Patch available CNA
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 6.1.185, 6.6.103, 6.12.43, 6.15.11, 6.16.2, 6.17
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
Not affected: 3 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2025-38616
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-jwf8-43xw-qvcr
References
Patch 5
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f1fe99919f629f980d0b8a7ff16950bffe06a859
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/eb0336f213fe88bbdb7d2b19c9c9ec19245a3155
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/db3658a12d5ec4db7185ae7476151a50521b7207
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2fb97ed9e2672b4f6e24ce206ac1a875ce4bcb38
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6db015fc4b5d5f63a64a193f65d98da3a7fc811d
More Linux Kernel vulnerabilities
- TI-2025-26358 tls: fix handling of zero-length records on the rx_list KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2026-38352 netfilter: bridge: make ebt_snat ARP rewrite writable KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- 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-2025-38616 · CVE Program
- CVE-2025-38616 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-jwf8-43xw-qvcr · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2025-38616 · 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