---
id: CVE-2025-38311
title: 'iavf: get rid of the crit lock'
summary: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  iavf: get rid of the crit lock

  Get rid of the crit lock.
  That frees us from the error prone logic of try_locks.

  Thanks 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'
---

## Overview

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

iavf: get rid of the crit lock

Get rid of the crit lock.
That frees us from the error prone logic of try_locks.

Thanks to netdev_lock() by Jakub it is now easy, and in most cases we were
protected by it already - replace crit lock by netdev lock when it was not
the case.

Lockdep reports that we should cancel the work under crit_lock [splat1],
and that was the scheme we have mostly followed since [1] by Slawomir.
But when that is done we still got into deadlocks [splat2]. So instead
we should look at the bigger problem, namely "weird locking/scheduling"
of the iavf. The first step to fix that is to remove the crit lock.
I will followup with a -next series that simplifies scheduling/tasks.

Cancel the work without netdev lock (weird unlock+lock scheme),
to fix the [splat2] (which would be totally ugly if we would kept
the crit lock).

Extend protected part of iavf_watchdog_task() to include scheduling
more work.

Note that the removed comment in iavf_reset_task() was misplaced,
it belonged to inside of the removed if condition, so it's gone now.

[splat1] - w/o this patch - The deadlock during VF removal:
     WARNING: possible circular locking dependency detected
     sh/3825 is trying to acquire lock:
      ((work_completion)(&(&adapter->watchdog_task)->work)){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: start_flush_work+0x1a1/0x470
          but task is already holding lock:
      (&adapter->crit_lock){+.+.}-{4:4}, at: iavf_remove+0xd1/0x690 [iavf]
          which lock already depends on the new lock.

[splat2] - when cancelling work under crit lock, w/o this series,
	   see [2] for the band aid attempt
    WARNING: possible circular locking dependency detected
    sh/3550 is trying to acquire lock:
    ((wq_completion)iavf){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: touch_wq_lockdep_map+0x26/0x90
        but task is already holding lock:
    (&dev->lock){+.+.}-{4:4}, at: iavf_remove+0xa6/0x6e0 [iavf]
        which lock already depends on the new lock.

[1] fc2e6b3b132a ("iavf: Rework mutexes for better synchronisation")
[2] https://github.com/pkitszel/linux/commit/52dddbfc2bb60294083f5711a158a

## 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`

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.