CVE-2025-38721
CVE-2025-38721CVE-2025-38721
linux / linux_kernel
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
netfilter: ctnetlink: fix refcount leak on table dump
There is a reference count leak in ctnetlink_dump_table():
if (res < 0) {
nf_conntrack_get(&ct->ct_general); // HERE
cb->args[1] = (unsigned long)ct;
...
While its very unlikely, its possible that ct == last.
If this happens, then the refcount of ct was already incremented.
This 2nd increment is never undone.
This prevents the conntrack object from being released, which in turn
keeps prevents cnet->count from dropping back to 0.
This will then block the netns dismantle (or conntrack rmmod) as
nf_conntrack_cleanup_net_list() will wait forever.
This can be reproduced by running conntrack_resize.sh selftest in a loop.
It takes ~20 minutes for me on a preemptible kernel on average before
I see a runaway kworker spinning in nf_conntrack_cleanup_net_list.
One fix would to change this to:
if (res < 0) {
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 | 2026-07-14 |