Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2025-38468

medium Nessus Plugin ID 251319

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Synopsis

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed with a vulnerability that the vendor indicates will not be patched.

Description

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

- 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/ (CVE-2025-38468)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

Solution

There is no known solution at this time.

Plugin Details

Severity: Medium

ID: 251319

File Name: unpatched_CVE_2025_38468.nasl

Version: 1.1

Type: local

Agent: unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 8/18/2025

Updated: 8/18/2025

Supported Sensors: Agentless Assessment, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Nessus Agent, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 4.4

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.2

Temporal Score: 5.3

Vector: CVSS2#AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2025-38468

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 5.5

Temporal Score: 4.8

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:O/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:11.0, p-cpe:/a:debian:debian_linux:linux, cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:13.0, cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:12.0

Required KB Items: Host/cpu, Host/local_checks_enabled, global_settings/vendor_unpatched, Host/OS/identifier

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Vulnerability Publication Date: 7/28/2025

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2025-38468

Detections

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