{"id":"CVE-2025-38311","title":"iavf: get rid of the crit lock","summary":"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\niavf: get rid of the crit lock\n\nGet rid of the crit lock.\nThat frees us from the error prone logic of try_locks.\n\nThanks to netdev_lock() by Jakub it is now easy, and i…","severity":"none","vendor":"Linux","product":"Linux","affected":["Linux >= d1639a17319ba78a018280cd2df6577a7e5d9fab < 620ab4d6215de0b25227f9fff1a8c7fb66837cb8","Linux >= d1639a17319ba78a018280cd2df6577a7e5d9fab < 120f28a6f314fef7f282c99f196923fe44081cad","Linux 2647ff59c52ef42c853c905817ed1a7f092d59a5","Linux 63d14a43128540016ebd4f7fa3ad3a2f0d6e642c","Linux >= 6.1.42 < 6.2","Linux >= 6.4.7 < 6.5","Linux 6.5"],"ssvc":{"exploitation":"none","automatable":"no","technicalImpact":"partial","timestamp":"2026-11-05T20:54:12.644172Z"},"published":"2025-07-10","updated":"2026-11-05","sourceUpdated":"2026-11-05T21:02:32.278Z","source":"CVEORG","sourceUrl":"https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38311","references":[{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/620ab4d6215de0b25227f9fff1a8c7fb66837cb8"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/120f28a6f314fef7f282c99f196923fe44081cad"}],"tags":["cve.org"],"epss":0.0011,"epssPercentile":0.01269,"ingestedAt":"2026-11-05T22:38:31.951Z","slug":"CVE-2025-38311","body":"## Overview\n\nIn the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\niavf: get rid of the crit lock\n\nGet rid of the crit lock.\nThat frees us from the error prone logic of try_locks.\n\nThanks to netdev_lock() by Jakub it is now easy, and in most cases we were\nprotected by it already - replace crit lock by netdev lock when it was not\nthe case.\n\nLockdep reports that we should cancel the work under crit_lock [splat1],\nand that was the scheme we have mostly followed since [1] by Slawomir.\nBut when that is done we still got into deadlocks [splat2]. So instead\nwe should look at the bigger problem, namely \"weird locking/scheduling\"\nof the iavf. The first step to fix that is to remove the crit lock.\nI will followup with a -next series that simplifies scheduling/tasks.\n\nCancel the work without netdev lock (weird unlock+lock scheme),\nto fix the [splat2] (which would be totally ugly if we would kept\nthe crit lock).\n\nExtend protected part of iavf_watchdog_task() to include scheduling\nmore work.\n\nNote that the removed comment in iavf_reset_task() was misplaced,\nit belonged to inside of the removed if condition, so it's gone now.\n\n[splat1] - w/o this patch - The deadlock during VF removal:\n     WARNING: possible circular locking dependency detected\n     sh/3825 is trying to acquire lock:\n      ((work_completion)(&(&adapter->watchdog_task)->work)){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: start_flush_work+0x1a1/0x470\n          but task is already holding lock:\n      (&adapter->crit_lock){+.+.}-{4:4}, at: iavf_remove+0xd1/0x690 [iavf]\n          which lock already depends on the new lock.\n\n[splat2] - when cancelling work under crit lock, w/o this series,\n\t   see [2] for the band aid attempt\n    WARNING: possible circular locking dependency detected\n    sh/3550 is trying to acquire lock:\n    ((wq_completion)iavf){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: touch_wq_lockdep_map+0x26/0x90\n        but task is already holding lock:\n    (&dev->lock){+.+.}-{4:4}, at: iavf_remove+0xa6/0x6e0 [iavf]\n        which lock already depends on the new lock.\n\n[1] fc2e6b3b132a (\"iavf: Rework mutexes for better synchronisation\")\n[2] https://github.com/pkitszel/linux/commit/52dddbfc2bb60294083f5711a158a\n\n## Affected\n\n- `Linux >= d1639a17319ba78a018280cd2df6577a7e5d9fab < 620ab4d6215de0b25227f9fff1a8c7fb66837cb8`\n- `Linux >= d1639a17319ba78a018280cd2df6577a7e5d9fab < 120f28a6f314fef7f282c99f196923fe44081cad`\n- `Linux 2647ff59c52ef42c853c905817ed1a7f092d59a5`\n- `Linux 63d14a43128540016ebd4f7fa3ad3a2f0d6e642c`\n- `Linux >= 6.1.42 < 6.2`\n- `Linux >= 6.4.7 < 6.5`\n- `Linux 6.5`\n\n## Remediation\n\nRefer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.","depth":"sunlit","depthScore":3,"depthScoreParts":{"impact":2.8,"likelihood":0,"exploitation":0,"ransomware":0},"changes":[]}