CVE-2025-39948

A memory-leak vulnerability exists in the Linux kernel’s Intel “ice” network driver when handling multi-buffer (XDP) frames. Specifically, the function ice_put_rx_mbuf() fails to free or reuse page buffers if the hardware supplies a descriptor of size zero. In that scenario, the buffer is skipped (not counted as a fragment), so ice_put_rx_buf() isn’t invoked, leaving a stale page in the RX ring. Over time this can lead to page exhaustion and degraded system availability on affected systems.

This vulnerability is rated as Moderate because exploitation requires systems equipped with Intel E800 series network hardware processing multi-buffer receive frames, such as configurations using jumbo frames or multi-buffer XDP, and leads to memory exhaustion causing a denial of service rather than code execution. Standard network workloads utilizing default MTU values do not trigger multi-buffer descriptor processing, significantly limiting real-world exposure. Furthermore, earlier platforms such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 do not contain the vulnerable multi-buffer logic and are not affected.

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