ghsa-g72f-6g67-w739
Vulnerability from github
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
iavf: get rid of the crit lock
Get rid of the crit lock. That frees us from the error prone logic of try_locks.
Thanks to netdev_lock() by Jakub it is now easy, and in most cases we were protected by it already - replace crit lock by netdev lock when it was not the case.
Lockdep reports that we should cancel the work under crit_lock [splat1], and that was the scheme we have mostly followed since [1] by Slawomir. But when that is done we still got into deadlocks [splat2]. So instead we should look at the bigger problem, namely "weird locking/scheduling" of the iavf. The first step to fix that is to remove the crit lock. I will followup with a -next series that simplifies scheduling/tasks.
Cancel the work without netdev lock (weird unlock+lock scheme), to fix the [splat2] (which would be totally ugly if we would kept the crit lock).
Extend protected part of iavf_watchdog_task() to include scheduling more work.
Note that the removed comment in iavf_reset_task() was misplaced, it belonged to inside of the removed if condition, so it's gone now.
[splat1] - w/o this patch - The deadlock during VF removal: WARNING: possible circular locking dependency detected sh/3825 is trying to acquire lock: ((work_completion)(&(&adapter->watchdog_task)->work)){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: start_flush_work+0x1a1/0x470 but task is already holding lock: (&adapter->crit_lock){+.+.}-{4:4}, at: iavf_remove+0xd1/0x690 [iavf] which lock already depends on the new lock.
[splat2] - when cancelling work under crit lock, w/o this series, see [2] for the band aid attempt WARNING: possible circular locking dependency detected sh/3550 is trying to acquire lock: ((wq_completion)iavf){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: touch_wq_lockdep_map+0x26/0x90 but task is already holding lock: (&dev->lock){+.+.}-{4:4}, at: iavf_remove+0xa6/0x6e0 [iavf] which lock already depends on the new lock.
[1] fc2e6b3b132a ("iavf: Rework mutexes for better synchronisation") [2] https://github.com/pkitszel/linux/commit/52dddbfc2bb60294083f5711a158a
{
"affected": [],
"aliases": [
"CVE-2025-38311"
],
"database_specific": {
"cwe_ids": [],
"github_reviewed": false,
"github_reviewed_at": null,
"nvd_published_at": "2025-07-10T08:15:30Z",
"severity": null
},
"details": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\niavf: get rid of the crit lock\n\nGet rid of the crit lock.\nThat frees us from the error prone logic of try_locks.\n\nThanks to netdev_lock() by Jakub it is now easy, and in most cases we were\nprotected by it already - replace crit lock by netdev lock when it was not\nthe case.\n\nLockdep reports that we should cancel the work under crit_lock [splat1],\nand that was the scheme we have mostly followed since [1] by Slawomir.\nBut when that is done we still got into deadlocks [splat2]. So instead\nwe should look at the bigger problem, namely \"weird locking/scheduling\"\nof the iavf. The first step to fix that is to remove the crit lock.\nI will followup with a -next series that simplifies scheduling/tasks.\n\nCancel the work without netdev lock (weird unlock+lock scheme),\nto fix the [splat2] (which would be totally ugly if we would kept\nthe crit lock).\n\nExtend protected part of iavf_watchdog_task() to include scheduling\nmore work.\n\nNote that the removed comment in iavf_reset_task() was misplaced,\nit belonged to inside of the removed if condition, so it\u0027s gone now.\n\n[splat1] - w/o this patch - The deadlock during VF removal:\n WARNING: possible circular locking dependency detected\n sh/3825 is trying to acquire lock:\n ((work_completion)(\u0026(\u0026adapter-\u003ewatchdog_task)-\u003ework)){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: start_flush_work+0x1a1/0x470\n but task is already holding lock:\n (\u0026adapter-\u003ecrit_lock){+.+.}-{4:4}, at: iavf_remove+0xd1/0x690 [iavf]\n which lock already depends on the new lock.\n\n[splat2] - when cancelling work under crit lock, w/o this series,\n\t see [2] for the band aid attempt\n WARNING: possible circular locking dependency detected\n sh/3550 is trying to acquire lock:\n ((wq_completion)iavf){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: touch_wq_lockdep_map+0x26/0x90\n but task is already holding lock:\n (\u0026dev-\u003elock){+.+.}-{4:4}, at: iavf_remove+0xa6/0x6e0 [iavf]\n which lock already depends on the new lock.\n\n[1] fc2e6b3b132a (\"iavf: Rework mutexes for better synchronisation\")\n[2] https://github.com/pkitszel/linux/commit/52dddbfc2bb60294083f5711a158a",
"id": "GHSA-g72f-6g67-w739",
"modified": "2025-07-10T09:32:30Z",
"published": "2025-07-10T09:32:30Z",
"references": [
{
"type": "ADVISORY",
"url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38311"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/120f28a6f314fef7f282c99f196923fe44081cad"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/620ab4d6215de0b25227f9fff1a8c7fb66837cb8"
}
],
"schema_version": "1.4.0",
"severity": []
}
Sightings
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