CVE-2025-38392: kernel: idpf: convert control queue mutex to a spinlock
Component: kernel
Severity: Moderate
CWE: CWE-767 (Access to Critical Private Variable via Public Method)
CVSS v3: 7.3 (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:H)
Public date: 2025-07-25T00:00:00+00:00

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

idpf: convert control queue mutex to a spinlock

With VIRTCHNL2_CAP_MACFILTER enabled, the following warning is generated
on module load:

[  324.701677] BUG: sleeping function called from invalid context at kernel/locking/mutex.c:578
[  324.701684] in_atomic(): 1, irqs_disabled(): 0, non_block: 0, pid: 1582, name: NetworkManager
[  324.701689] preempt_count: 201, expected: 0
[  324.701693] RCU nest depth: 0, expected: 0
[  324.701697] 2 locks held by NetworkManager/1582:
[  324.701702]  #0: ffffffff9f7be770 (rtnl_mutex){....}-{3:3}, at: rtnl_newlink+0x791/0x21e0
[  324.701730]  #1: ff1100216c380368 (_xmit_ETHER){....}-{2:2}, at: __dev_open+0x3f0/0x870
[  324.701749] Preemption disabled at:
[  324.701752] [<ffffffff9cd23b9d>] __dev_open+0x3dd/0x870
[  324.701765] CPU: 30 UID: 0 PID: 1582 Comm: NetworkManager Not tainted 6.15.0-rc5+ #2 PREEMPT(voluntary)
[  324.701771] Hardware name: Intel Corporation M50FCP2SBSTD/M50FCP2SBSTD, BIOS SE5C741.86B.01.01.0001.2211140926 11/14/2022
[  324.701774] Call Trace:
[  324.701777]  <TASK>
[  324.701779]  dump_stack_lvl+0x5d/0x80
[  324.701788]  ? __dev_open+0x3dd/0x870
[  324.701793]  __might_resched.cold+0x1ef/0x23d
<..>
[  324.701818]  __mutex_lock+0x113/0x1b80
<..>
[  324.701917]  idpf_ctlq_clean_sq+0xad/0x4b0 [idpf]
[  324.701935]  ? kasan_save_track+0x14/0x30
[  324.701941]  idpf_mb_clean+0x143/0x380 [idpf]
<..>
[  324.701991]  idpf_send_mb_msg+0x111/0x720 [idpf]
[  324.702009]  idpf_vc_xn_exec+0x4cc/0x990 [idpf]
[  324.702021]  ? rcu_is_watching+0x12/0xc0
[  324.702035]  idpf_add_del_mac_filters+0x3ed/0xb50 [idpf]
<..>
[  324.702122]  __hw_addr_sync_dev+0x1cf/0x300
[  324.702126]  ? find_held_lock+0x32/0x90
[  324.702134]  idpf_set_rx_mode+0x317/0x390 [idpf]
[  324.702152]  __dev_open+0x3f8/0x870
[  324.702159]  ? __pfx___dev_open+0x10/0x10
[  324.702174]  __dev_change_flags+0x443/0x650
<..>
[  324.702208]  netif_change_flags+0x80/0x160
[  324.702218]  do_setlink.isra.0+0x16a0/0x3960
<..>
[  324.702349]  rtnl_newlink+0x12fd/0x21e0

The sequence is as follows:
	rtnl_newlink()->
	__dev_change_flags()->
	__dev_open()->
	dev_set_rx_mode() - >  # disables BH and grabs "dev->addr_list_lock"
	idpf_set_rx_mode() ->  # proceed only if VIRTCHNL2_CAP_MACFILTER is ON
	__dev_uc_sync() ->
	idpf_add_mac_filter ->
	idpf_add_del_mac_filters ->
	idpf_send_mb_msg() ->
	idpf_mb_clean() ->
	idpf_ctlq_clean_sq()   # mutex_lock(cq_lock)

Fix by converting cq_lock to a spinlock. All operations under the new
lock are safe except freeing the DMA memory, which may use vunmap(). Fix
by requesting a contiguous physical memory for the DMA mapping.

Statement: This patch fixes an invalid use of mutex_lock() in atomic context within the Intel idpf driver.
When enabling VIRTCHNL2_CAP_MACFILTER, the driver attempted to acquire a mutex while holding spinlocks or in atomic context (e.g., via __dev_open()), resulting in kernel warnings or potential crashes.
The fix replaces the mutex with a spinlock and ensures that memory used in such contexts is allocated with DMA_ATTR_FORCE_CONTIGUOUS to avoid calls to vunmap() under spinlock.
The vulnerability has low impact on confidentiality or integrity, but poses a high risk to availability, especially on systems using the Intel idpf driver with MAC filtering enabled.
This issue is not limited to log flooding; it may also result in a kernel hang or soft lockup when triggered by an unprivileged user, making it a potential vector for local denial-of-service.
The driver for this module enabled only for the latest version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 (or 10) and for the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.10 (and later), and not actual before.

Affected upstream versions: 6.7
Fixed upstream versions: 0, 6.12.37, 6.15.6, 6.16
Upstream repository: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git
Upstream fix commit: 9a36715cd6bc6a6f16230e19a7f947bab34b3fe5