CVE-2025-38331

Medium

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: ethernet: cortina: Use TOE/TSO on all TCP It is desireable to push the hardware accelerator to also process non-segmented TCP frames: we pass the skb->len to the "TOE/TSO" offloader and it will handle them. Without this quirk the driver becomes unstable and lock up and and crash. I do not know exactly why, but it is probably due to the TOE (TCP offload engine) feature that is coupled with the segmentation feature - it is not possible to turn one part off and not the other, either both TOE and TSO are active, or neither of them. Not having the TOE part active seems detrimental, as if that hardware feature is not really supposed to be turned off. The datasheet says: "Based on packet parsing and TCP connection/NAT table lookup results, the NetEngine puts the packets belonging to the same TCP connection to the same queue for the software to process. The NetEngine puts incoming packets to the buffer or series of buffers for a jumbo packet. With this hardware acceleration, IP/TCP header parsing, checksum validation and connection lookup are offloaded from the software processing." After numerous tests with the hardware locking up after something between minutes and hours depending on load using iperf3 I have concluded this is necessary to stabilize the hardware.

Package Linux Kernel
Published 2025-07-10
Last modified 2025-12-19
CVSS version 3.1
Patch available
Yes

CVSS 3.1 score

5.5

out of 10
Medium
Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
None
Availability
High
Vector string
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Affected versions

Linux kernel versions 4.16 and later are affected. Fixed in 6.1.142, 6.6.95, 6.12.35, 6.15.4, 6.16 and their respective stable series.

Affected from
≥ 4.16
Fixed in
✓ 6.1.142 6.1.x ✓ 6.6.95 6.6.x ✓ 6.12.35 6.12.x ✓ 6.15.4 6.15.x ✓ 6.16

References

The following references provide additional information about CVE-2025-38331 including vendor advisories, patch commits, exploit details, and third-party analysis. Links are sourced from the NIST NVD database.

Frequently asked questions

  • What is CVE-2025-38331?

    CVE-2025-38331 is a Medium severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10 . It affects Linux kernel versions from 4.16 onward and has been patched in 6.1.142, 6.6.95, 6.12.35 and others. CVE-2025-38331 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

  • What is the CVSS score for CVE-2025-38331?

    CVE-2025-38331 has a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10, rated Medium severity (CVSS 3.1). The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H .

  • Is there a patch available for CVE-2025-38331?

    Yes — CVE-2025-38331 has been patched. Fixed versions include 6.1.142, 6.6.95, 6.12.35 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 4.16 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.

  • Is CVE-2025-38331 actively exploited?

    No — CVE-2025-38331 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.