{"cve":"CVE-2025-38614","nvd":{"published":"2025-08-19T17:15:40.040","modified":"2026-10-15T22:18:47.247","status":"Modified","description":"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\neventpoll: Fix semi-unbounded recursion\n\nEnsure that epoll instances can never form a graph deeper than\nEP_MAX_NESTS+1 links.\n\nCurrently, ep_loop_check_proc() ensures that the graph is loop-free and\ndoes some recursion depth checks, but those recursion depth checks don't\nlimit the depth of the resulting tree for two reasons:\n\n - They don't look upwards in the tree.\n - If there are multiple downwards paths of different lengths, only one of\n   the paths is actually considered for the depth check since commit\n   28d82dc1c4ed (\"epoll: limit paths\").\n\nEssentially, the current recursion depth check in ep_loop_check_proc() just\nserves to prevent it from recursing too deeply while checking for loops.\n\nA more thorough check is done in reverse_path_check() after the new graph\nedge has already been created; this checks, among other things, that no\npaths going upwards from any non-epoll file with a length of more than 5\nedges exist. However, this check does not apply to non-epoll files.\n\nAs a result, it is possible to recurse to a depth of at least roughly 500,\ntested on v6.15. (I am unsure if deeper recursion is possible; and this may\nhave changed with commit 8c44dac8add7 (\"eventpoll: Fix priority inversion\nproblem\").)\n\nTo fix it:\n\n1. In ep_loop_check_proc(), note the subtree depth of each visited node,\nand use subtree depths for the total depth calculation even when a subtree\nhas already been visited.\n2. Add ep_get_upwards_depth_proc() for similarly determining the maximum\ndepth of an upwards walk.\n3. In ep_loop_check(), use these values to limit the total path length\nbetween epoll nodes to EP_MAX_NESTS edges.","cvss_v4":null,"cvss_v3":{"version":"3.1","vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H","score":5.5},"cwes":["CWE-674"],"references":["https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1b13b033062824495554e836a1ff5f85ccf6b039","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2a0c0c974bea9619c6f41794775ae4b97530e0e6","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3542c90797bc3ab83ebab54b737d751cf3682036","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/71379495ab70eaba19224bd71b5b9b399eb85e04","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7a2125962c42d5336ca0495a9ce4cb38a63e9161"],"products":["debian:debian_linux","linux:linux_kernel"],"source":"nvd","synced_at":"2026-10-19T22:07:46.309729541+00:00"},"epss":{"cve":"CVE-2025-38614","score":0.00185,"percentile":0.07974,"date":"2026-10-25"},"kev":null,"osv":[],"attribution":["This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.","EPSS scores: FIRST Exploit Prediction Scoring System, https://www.first.org/epss","Known exploited vulnerabilities: CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog, https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog","Package advisories: OSV (https://osv.dev), from the GitHub Advisory Database, PyPA, Go, RustSec and other ecosystem databases, under CC-BY 4.0 or CC0","CVE records: the CVE Program's CVE List (https://www.cve.org), under its terms of use (https://www.cve.org/Legal/TermsOfUse). CVE is a registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation; this product is not affiliated with the CVE Program."]}