DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38468

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/sched: Return NULL when htb_lookup_leaf encounters an empty rbtree htb_lookup_leaf has a BUG_ON that can trigger with the following: tc qdisc del dev lo root tc qdisc add dev lo root handle 1: htb default 1 tc class add dev lo parent 1: classid 1:1 htb rate 64bit tc qdisc add dev lo parent 1:1 handle 2: netem tc qdisc add dev lo parent 2:1 handle 3: blackhole ping -I lo -c1 -W0.001 127.0.0.1 The root cause is the following: 1. htb_dequeue calls htb_dequeue_tree which calls the dequeue handler on the selected leaf qdisc 2. netem_dequeue calls enqueue on the child qdisc 3. blackhole_enqueue drops the packet and returns a value that is not just NET_XMIT_SUCCESS 4. Because of this, netem_dequeue calls qdisc_tree_reduce_backlog, and since qlen is now 0, it calls htb_qlen_notify -> htb_deactivate -> htb_deactiviate_prios -> htb_remove_class_from_row -> htb_safe_rb_erase 5. As this is the only class in the selected hprio rbtree, __rb_change_child in __rb_erase_augmented sets the rb_root pointer to NULL 6. Because blackhole_dequeue returns NULL, netem_dequeue returns NULL, which causes htb_dequeue_tree to call htb_lookup_leaf with the same hprio rbtree, and fail the BUG_ON The function graph for this scenario is shown here: 0) | htb_enqueue() { 0) + 13.635 us | netem_enqueue(); 0) 4.719 us | htb_activate_prios(); 0) # 2249.199 us | } 0) | htb_dequeue() { 0) 2.355 us | htb_lookup_leaf(); 0) | netem_dequeue() { 0) + 11.061 us | blackhole_enqueue(); 0) | qdisc_tree_reduce_backlog() { 0) | qdisc_lookup_rcu() { 0) 1.873 us | qdisc_match_from_root(); 0) 6.292 us | } 0) 1.894 us | htb_search(); 0) | htb_qlen_notify() { 0) 2.655 us | htb_deactivate_prios(); 0) 6.933 us | } 0) + 25.227 us | } 0) 1.983 us | blackhole_dequeue(); 0) + 86.553 us | } 0) # 2932.761 us | qdisc_warn_nonwc(); 0) | htb_lookup_leaf() { 0) | BUG_ON(); ------------------------------------------ The full original bug report can be seen here [1]. We can fix this just by returning NULL instead of the BUG_ON, as htb_dequeue_tree returns NULL when htb_lookup_leaf returns NULL. [1] https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/pF5XOOIim0IuEfhI-SOxTgRvNoDwuux7UHKnE_Y5-zVd4wmGvNk2ceHjKb8ORnzw0cGwfmVu42g9dL7XyJLf1NEzaztboTWcm0Ogxuojoeo=@willsroot.io/

References

https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-38468

Affected packages

Debian:12 / linux

Package

Name: linux
Purl: pkg:deb/debian/linux?arch=source&distro=bookworm

Affected ranges

Type: ECOSYSTEM
Events: Introduced

0 Unknown introduced version / All previous versions are affected

Fixed

6.1.147-1

Affected versions

6.*

6.1.27-1

6.1.37-1

6.1.38-1

6.1.38-2~bpo11+1

6.1.38-2

6.1.38-3

6.1.38-4~bpo11+1

6.1.38-4

6.1.52-1

6.1.55-1~bpo11+1

6.1.55-1

6.1.64-1

6.1.66-1

6.1.67-1

6.1.69-1~bpo11+1

6.1.69-1

6.1.76-1~bpo11+1

6.1.76-1

6.1.82-1

6.1.85-1

6.1.90-1~bpo11+1

6.1.90-1

6.1.94-1~bpo11+1

6.1.94-1

6.1.98-1

6.1.99-1

6.1.106-1

6.1.106-2

6.1.106-3

6.1.112-1

6.1.115-1

6.1.119-1

6.1.123-1

6.1.124-1

6.1.128-1

6.1.129-1

6.1.133-1

6.1.135-1

6.1.137-1

6.1.139-1

6.1.140-1

Ecosystem specific

{
    "urgency":  "not yet assigned"
}

Database specific

source

"https://storage.googleapis.com/osv-test-debian-osv/debian-cve-osv/DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38468.json"

Debian:13 / linux

Package

Name: linux
Purl: pkg:deb/debian/linux?arch=source&distro=trixie

Affected ranges

Type: ECOSYSTEM
Events: Introduced

0 Unknown introduced version / All previous versions are affected

Fixed

6.12.41-1

Affected versions

6.*

6.12.38-1

Ecosystem specific

{
    "urgency":  "not yet assigned"
}

Database specific

source

"https://storage.googleapis.com/osv-test-debian-osv/debian-cve-osv/DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38468.json"

Debian:14 / linux

Package

Name: linux
Purl: pkg:deb/debian/linux?arch=source&distro=forky

Affected ranges

Type: ECOSYSTEM
Events: Introduced

0 Unknown introduced version / All previous versions are affected

Fixed

6.16.3-1

Affected versions

6.*

6.12.38-1

6.12.41-1

6.12.43-1~bpo12+1

6.12.43-1

6.12.48-1

6.12.57-1~bpo12+1

6.12.57-1

6.12.63-1~bpo12+1

6.12.63-1

6.12.69-1~bpo12+1

6.12.69-1

6.12.73-1~bpo12+1

6.12.73-1

6.12.74-1

6.12.74-2~bpo12+1

6.12.74-2

6.12.85-1~bpo12+1

6.12.85-1

6.12.86-1~bpo12+1

6.12.86-1

6.12.88-1~bpo12+1

6.12.88-1

6.12.90-1~bpo12+1

6.12.90-1

6.12.90-2~bpo12+1

6.12.90-2

6.12.94-1~bpo12+1

6.12.94-1

6.12.95-1~bpo12+1

6.12.95-1

6.12.96-1

6.12.100-1

6.12.101-1

6.12.105-1

6.12.107-1

6.13~rc6-1~exp1

6.13~rc7-1~exp1

6.13.2-1~exp1

6.13.3-1~exp1

6.13.4-1~exp1

6.13.5-1~exp1

6.13.6-1~exp1

6.13.7-1~exp1

6.13.8-1~exp1

6.13.9-1~exp1

6.13.10-1~exp1

6.13.11-1~exp1

6.14.3-1~exp1

6.14.5-1~exp1

6.14.6-1~exp1

6.15~rc7-1~exp1

6.15-1~exp1

6.15.1-1~exp1

6.15.2-1~exp1

6.15.3-1~exp1

6.15.4-1~exp1

6.15.5-1~exp1

6.15.6-1~exp1

6.16~rc7-1~exp1

6.16-1~exp1

6.16.1-1~exp1

6.16.3-1~bpo13+1

Ecosystem specific

{
    "urgency":  "not yet assigned"
}

Database specific

source

"https://storage.googleapis.com/osv-test-debian-osv/debian-cve-osv/DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38468.json"