🛡️ CVE-2025-38616 — kernel
Description
tls: handle data disappearing from under the TLS ULP
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
tls: handle data disappearing from under the TLS ULP
TLS expects that it owns the receive queue of the TCP socket.
This cannot be guaranteed in case the reader of the TCP socket
entered before the TLS ULP was installed, or uses some non-standard
read API (eg. zerocopy ones). Replace the WARN_ON() and a buggy
early exit (which leaves anchor pointing to a freed skb) with real
error handling. Wipe the parsing state and tell the reader to retry.
We already reload the anchor every time we (re)acquire the socket lock,
so the only condition we need to avoid is an out of bounds read
(not having enough bytes in the socket for previously parsed record len).
If some data was read from under TLS but there's enough in the queue
we'll reload and decrypt what is most likely not a valid TLS record.
Leading to some undefined behavior from TLS perspective (corrupting
a stream? missing an alert? missing an attack?) but no kernel crash
should take place.
How this vulnerability can be exploited
This issue can be reached with local access to the system, attack complexity is low, an attacker needs low-level privileges on the target. No user interaction is required. The scope is unchanged, so the impact stays within the vulnerable component. Rated impact: confidentiality high, integrity high, availability high.
Affected software
CVE-2025-38616 is recorded against 3 packages.
- :linux-kernel: (from :0 up to :2026-03-05)
- kernel (from 6.16.0 up to 6.16.2)
- linux-kernel
Timeline and source
Published on 1 March 2026 and last revised on 11 August 2026. No public exploit is currently recorded for this entry. A vendor advisory or fix has been published. Record sourced from NVD.
References
source.android.com (Advisory)
android.googlesource.com (Fix)
android.googlesource.com (Fix)
CVE-2025-38616 on other distributions
Each distribution ships its own build and its own fixed version. Pick the one you run:
Details
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Affected Packages
| Software | From version | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| :linux-kernel: | :0 | :2026-03-05 |
| kernel | 6.16.0 | 6.16.2 |
| linux-kernel | — | — |
References
Similar Threats
- Unknown CVE-2020-29374
- Unknown CVE-2020-0465
- Unknown CVE-2018-25020
- Unknown CVE-2020-27068
- Unknown CVE-2021-0707
Site Security Check
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