Infinite Loop Vulnerability in Linux Kernel Netlink Functionality

CVE-2025-38727

What is CVE-2025-38727?

A vulnerability has been identified in the Linux kernel related to netlink's handling of memory allocation during unicast operations. Specifically, the function responsible for ensuring that socket memory allocation constraints are met fails to effectively check certain conditions. This oversight can lead to an infinite retry loop when memory under specific conditions is not successfully accepted. The original behavior of the check was inadvertently modified during code restructuring, which has resulted in the system becoming unresponsive, as indicated by error messages related to RCU scheduling stalls when the retry loop runs indefinitely. This vulnerability poses risks to system stability and performance.

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