Vulnerability · Published Jun 18, 2025 · Assigned by Linux

CVE-2025-38017fs/eventpoll: fix endless busy loop after timeout has expired

Medium 5.5

In plain English

A medium-severity security flaw in Linux from Linux. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.2% (higher than 6% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS NVD)5.5Medium
Exploit odds (30 days)0.2%top 94.4% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsnot in CISA KEV
Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: fs/eventpoll: fix endless busy loop after timeout has expired After commit 0a65bc27bd64 ("eventpoll: Set epoll timeout if it's in the future"), the following program would immediately enter a busy loop in the kernel: ``` int main() { int e = epoll_create1(0); struct epoll_event event = {.events = EPOLLIN}; epoll_ctl(e, EPOLL_CTL_ADD, 0, &event); const struct timespec timeout = {.tv_nsec = 1}; epoll_pwait2(e, &event, 1, &timeout, 0); } ``` This happens because the given (non-zero) timeout of 1 nanosecond usually expires before ep_poll() is entered and then ep_schedule_timeout() returns false, but `timed_out` is never set because the code line that sets it is skipped. This quickly turns into a soft lockup, RCU stalls and deadlocks, inflicting severe headaches to the whole system. When the timeout has expired, we don't need to schedule a hrtimer, but we should set the `timed_out` variable. Therefore, I suggest moving the ep_schedule_timeout() check into the `timed_out` expression instead of skipping it. brauner: Note that there was an earlier fix by Joe Damato in response to my bug report in [1].

Affected packages & fixed versions

EcosystemPackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-allwinner-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38017
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38017
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38017
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38017
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38017
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38017
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38017
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38017
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38017
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38017
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.146.14.0-1011.11~24.04.1UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38017
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38017
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38017
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38017
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38017
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38017
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-intel-iot-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38017
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38017
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38017
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38017
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38017
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38017
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-5.17no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38017
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.0no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38017
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.1no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38017
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38017
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracle-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38017
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-raspi-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38017
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38017
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38017
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38017
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38017
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38017
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38017
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38017
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38017
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38017

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
Linux Linux 99a0ad16dfd114a429df665065dcc576dad743c0 – before 7631dca012593c95d36199082546a24a0058fc500a65bc27bd645894175c059397b4916e31955fb2 – before d9ec73301099ec5975505e1c3effbe768bab9490
Linux Linux 6.14.4 – before 6.14.8

References