CVE-2025-39978

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

octeontx2-pf: Fix potential use after free in otx2_tc_add_flow()

This code calls kfree_rcu(new_node, rcu) and then dereferences "new_node" and then dereferences it on the next line. Two lines later, we take a mutex so I don't think this is an RCU safe region. Re-order it to do the dereferences before queuing up the free.

This vulnerability is evaluated as having a Moderate impact rather than Important because exploitation requires local administrative privileges (CAP_NET_ADMIN) to manage traffic control rules, and is limited to systems equipped with Marvell OcteonTX2 network hardware. Default Red Hat Enterprise Linux deployments rarely utilize this specialized hardware, significantly reducing overall exposure. In environments containing this hardware, a privileged local actor configuring traffic offload flow entries could cause kernel memory corruption, resulting in a denial of service or potential privilege escalation.

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.