Vulnerability in Linux

CVE-2025-38588

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ipv6: prevent infinite loop in rt6_nlmsg_size() While testing prior patch, I was able to trigger an infinite loop in rt6_nlmsg_size() in the following place: list_for_each_entry_rcu(sibling, &f6i->fib6_siblings, fib6_siblings) { rt6_nh_nlmsg_size(sibling->fib6_nh, &nexthop_len); } This is because fib6_del_route() and fib6_add_rt2node() uses list_del_rcu(), which can confuse rcu readers, because they might no longer see the head of the list. Restart the loop if f6i->fib6_nsiblings is zero.

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 5.5 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.002 (4.4th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 4th percentile — 4.4% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2025-38588: held from 0.002 to 0.002.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.002 · newest: 0.002 · change: +0.000

Affected products

  • Linux — versions 11edcd026012ac18acee0f1514db3ed1b160fc6f, d9ccb18f83ea2bb654289b6ecf014fd267cc988b, 6.1.128
  • Linux Kernel
  • Debian Linux — versions 11.0

Weakness classification (CWE)

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2025-38588?
CVE-2025-38588 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition (Infinite Loop). CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2025-08-19.
How severe is CVE-2025-38588?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.
Is CVE-2025-38588 known to be exploited?
1 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.