CVE-2025-38551

A flaw was found in the Linux kernel’s virtio-net driver, where a recursive rtnl_lock() could be triggered during device probing. The deadlock occurs when a VIRTIO_NET_S_ANNOUNCE request is received from the VMM while the driver is still in the probe stage. In this scenario, the config_work scheduled by virtio_config_changed_work() may invoke netdev_notify_peers(), which attempts to acquire rtnl_lock() while it is already held by virtnet_probe(). This issue results in a recursive lock acquisition and a potential system hang.

No Red Hat products or offerings are affected by this vulnerability.

The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.

Mitigation is either unavailable or does not meet Red Hat Product Security standards for usability, deployment, applicability, or stability.