🛡️ CVE-2025-39988 — kernel

🟠 CVSS 7.8 — High ✅ No Known Exploit NVD
7.8
CVSS Score
0 Low4 Medium7 High9 Critical10

Description

can: etas_es58x: populate ndo_change_mtu() to prevent buffer overflow

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

can: etas_es58x: populate ndo_change_mtu() to prevent buffer overflow

Sending an PF_PACKET allows to bypass the CAN framework logic and to

directly reach the xmit() function of a CAN driver. The only check

which is performed by the PF_PACKET framework is to make sure that

skb->len fits the interface's MTU.

Unfortunately, because the etas_es58x driver does not populate its

net_device_ops->ndo_change_mtu(), it is possible for an attacker to

configure an invalid MTU by doing, for example:

$ ip link set can0 mtu 9999

After doing so, the attacker could open a PF_PACKET socket using the

ETH_P_CANXL protocol:

socket(PF_PACKET, SOCK_RAW, htons(ETH_P_CANXL));

to inject a malicious CAN XL frames. For example:

struct canxl_frame frame = {

.flags = 0xff,

.len = 2048,

};

The CAN drivers' xmit() function are calling can_dev_dropped_skb() to

check that the skb is valid, unfortunately under above conditions, the

malicious packet is able to go through can_dev_dropped_skb() checks:

1. the skb->protocol is set to ETH_P_CANXL which is valid (the

function does not check the actual device capabilities).

2. the length is a valid CAN XL length.

And so, es58x_start_xmit() receives a CAN XL frame which it is not

able to correctly handle and will thus misinterpret it as a CAN(FD)

frame.

This can result in a buffer overflow. For example, using the es581.4

variant, the frame will be dispatched to es581_4_tx_can_msg(), go

through the last check at the beginning of this function:

if (can_is_canfd_skb(skb))

return -EMSGSIZE;

and reach this line:

memcpy(tx_can_msg->data, cf->data, cf->len);

Here, cf->len corresponds to the flags field of the CAN XL frame. In

our previous example, we set canxl_frame->flags to 0xff. Because the

maximum expected length is 8, a buffer overflow of 247 bytes occurs!

Populate net_device_ops->ndo_change_mtu() to ensure that the

interface's MTU can not be set to anything bigger than CAN_MTU or

CANFD_MTU (depending on the device capabilities). By fixing the root

cause, this prevents the buffer overflow.

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-2025-39988 is recorded against 2 packages.

  • kernel (from 6.13.0 up to 6.16.10)
  • unknown

Timeline and source

Published on 15 October 2025 and last revised on 6 August 2026. No public exploit is currently recorded for this entry. Record sourced from NVD.

References

git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
github.com (Advisory)
nvd.nist.gov (Advisory)
git.kernel.org (Package)

CVE-2025-39988 on other distributions

Each distribution ships its own build and its own fixed version. Pick the one you run:

Details

Severity High
CVSS Score 7.8
CVSS Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CWE N/A
Public Exploit ✅ No
Source NVD
Published 2025-10-15
Updated 2026-08-12
Modified 2026-08-06
Fix URL N/A

Affected Packages

Software From version Fixed in
kernel 6.13.0 6.16.10
unknown

Similar Threats

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