CVE-2025-38468
CVE-2025-38468CVE-2025-38468
linux / linux_kernel
Description
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 th
Scoring
| CVSS | 5.5 () |
| Vector | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |
| Last modified | 2026-11-05 |