Linux kernel: BPF verifier security bypass due to incorrect state handling
CVE: CVE-2025-38060
Component: kernel
CWE: CWE-99
Severity: Moderate
CVSS v3: 5.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Release date: 2025-06-18T00:00:00+00:00

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

bpf: copy_verifier_state() should copy 'loop_entry' field

The bpf_verifier_state.loop_entry state should be copied by
copy_verifier_state(). Otherwise, .loop_entry values from unrelated
states would poison env->cur_state.

Additionally, env->stack should not contain any states with
.loop_entry != NULL. The states in env->stack are yet to be verified,
while .loop_entry is set for states that reached an equivalent state.
This means that env->cur_state->loop_entry should always be NULL after
pop_stack().

See the selftest in the next commit for an example of the program that
is not safe yet is accepted by verifier w/o this fix.

This change has some verification performance impact for selftests:

File                                Program                       Insns (A)  Insns (B)  Insns   (DIFF)  States (A)  States (B)  States (DIFF)
----------------------------------  ----------------------------  ---------  ---------  --------------  ----------  ----------  -------------
arena_htab.bpf.o                    arena_htab_llvm                     717        426  -291 (-40.59%)          57          37  -20 (-35.09%)
arena_htab_asm.bpf.o                arena_htab_asm                      597        445  -152 (-25.46%)          47          37  -10 (-21.28%)
arena_list.bpf.o                    arena_list_del                      309        279    -30 (-9.71%)          23          14   -9 (-39.13%)
iters.bpf.o                         iter_subprog_check_stacksafe        155        141    -14 (-9.03%)          15          14    -1 (-6.67%)
iters.bpf.o                         iter_subprog_iters                 1094       1003    -91 (-8.32%)          88          83    -5 (-5.68%)
iters.bpf.o                         loop_state_deps2                    479        725  +246 (+51.36%)          46          63  +17 (+36.96%)
kmem_cache_iter.bpf.o               open_coded_iter                      63         59     -4 (-6.35%)           7           6   -1 (-14.29%)
verifier_bits_iter.bpf.o            max_words                            92         84     -8 (-8.70%)           8           7   -1 (-12.50%)
verifier_iterating_callbacks.bpf.o  cond_break2                         113        107     -6 (-5.31%)          12          12    +0 (+0.00%)

And significant negative impact for sched_ext:

File               Program                 Insns (A)  Insns (B)  Insns         (DIFF)  States (A)  States (B)  States      (DIFF)
-----------------  ----------------------  ---------  ---------  --------------------  ----------  ----------  ------------------
bpf.bpf.o          lavd_init                    7039      14723      +7684 (+109.16%)         490        1139     +649 (+132.45%)
bpf.bpf.o          layered_dispatch            11485      10548         -937 (-8.16%)         848         762       -86 (-10.14%)
bpf.bpf.o          layered_dump                 7422    1000001  +992579 (+13373.47%)         681       31178  +30497 (+4478.27%)
bpf.bpf.o          layered_enqueue             16854      71127     +54273 (+322.02%)        1611        6450    +4839 (+300.37%)
bpf.bpf.o          p2dq_dispatch                 665        791        +126 (+18.95%)          68          78       +10 (+14.71%)
bpf.bpf.o          p2dq_init                    2343       2980        +637 (+27.19%)         201         237       +36 (+17.91%)
bpf.bpf.o          refresh_layer_cpumasks      16487     674760   +658273 (+3992.68%)        1770       65370  +63600 (+3593.22%)
bpf.bpf.o          rusty_select_cpu             1937      40872    +38935 (+2010.07%)         177        3210   +3033 (+1713.56%)
scx_central.bpf.o  central_dispatch              636       2687      +2051 (+322.48%)          63         227     +164 (+260.32%)
scx_nest.bpf.o     nest_init                     636        815        +179 (+28.14%)          60          73       +13 (+21.67%)
scx_qmap.bpf.o     qmap_dispatch      
---truncated---


Remediation:
Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base, or stability.