# CVE-2025-38311: iavf: get rid of the crit lock

Status: published. Published: 2025-07-10. Updated: 2026-11-05.

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

iavf: get rid of the crit lock

Get rid of the crit lock.
That frees us from the error prone logic of try_locks.

Thanks to netdev_lock() by Jakub it is now easy, and in most cases we were
protected by it already - replace crit lock by netdev lock when it was not
the case.

Lockdep reports that we should cancel the work under crit_lock [splat1],
and that was the scheme we have mostly followed since [1] by Slawomir.
But when that is done we still got into deadlocks [splat2]. So instead
we should look at the bigger problem, namely "weird locking/scheduling"
of the iavf. The first step to fix that is to remove the crit lock.
I will followup with a -next series that simplifies scheduling/tasks.

Cancel the work without netdev lock (weird unlock+lock scheme),
to fix the [splat2] (which would be totally ugly if we would kept
the crit lock).

Extend protected part of iavf_watchdog_task() to include scheduling
more work.

Note that the removed comment in iavf_reset_task() was misplaced,
it belonged to inside of the removed if condition, so it's gone now.

[splat1] - w/o this patch - The deadlock during VF removal:
     WARNING: possible circular locking dependency detected
     sh/3825 is trying to acquire lock:
      ((work_completion)(&(&adapter->watchdog_task)->work)){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: start_flush_work+0x1a1/0x470
          but task is already holding lock:
      (&adapter->crit_lock){+.+.}-{4:4}, at: iavf_remove+0xd1/0x690 [iavf]
          which lock already depends on the new lock.

[splat2] - when cancelling work under crit lock, w/o this series,
	   see [2] for the band aid attempt
    WARNING: possible circular locking dependency detected
    sh/3550 is trying to acquire lock:
    ((wq_completion)iavf){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: touch_wq_lockdep_map+0x26/0x90
        but task is already holding lock:
    (&dev->lock){+.+.}-{4:4}, at: iavf_remove+0xa6/0x6e0 [iavf]
        which lock already depends on the new lock.

[1] fc2e6b3b132a ("iavf: Rework mutexes for better synchronisation")
[2] https://github.com/pkitszel/linux/commit/52dddbfc2bb60294083f5711a158a

## Remediation

No remediation reported in collected sources

## Affected products and versions

- Linux / Linux: ≥ d1639a17319ba78a018280cd2df6577a7e5d9fab; < 620ab4d6215de0b25227f9fff1a8c7fb66837cb8 (affected, git); ≥ d1639a17319ba78a018280cd2df6577a7e5d9fab; < 120f28a6f314fef7f282c99f196923fe44081cad (affected, git); 2647ff59c52ef42c853c905817ed1a7f092d59a5 (affected, git); 63d14a43128540016ebd4f7fa3ad3a2f0d6e642c (affected, git); ≥ 6.1.42; < 6.2 (affected, semver); ≥ 6.4.7; < 6.5 (affected, semver). Source: CNA: Linux
- Linux / Linux: 6.5 (affected); ≥ 0; < 6.5 (unaffected, semver); ≥ 6.15.3; ≤ 6.15.* (unaffected, semver); ≥ 6.16; ≤ * (unaffected, original_commit_for_fix). Source: CNA: Linux

## Severity and prioritization

- CISA KEV: No listing in collected sources

- EPSS: 0.11% as of 2026-11-05; percentile 1.27%

- SSVC: exploitation none; automatable no; technical impact partial; source ADP: CISA-ADP

- Weaknesses: Not reported

## Exploit evidence

No exploit evidence in collected sources. This is not proof of no exploitation.

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/620ab4d6215de0b25227f9fff1a8c7fb66837cb8 (CNA: Linux)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/120f28a6f314fef7f282c99f196923fe44081cad (CNA: Linux)

## Provenance

- CNA: Linux: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38311; retrieved 2026-11-05; source updated 2026-11-05

- FIRST EPSS: https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2025-38311; retrieved 2026-11-05; source updated Not reported

Revision: da3910e307983310c0dffcbb52d65ce75dc926603d62a8a2d5d5fef305fb01f6

Canonical: https://y2.dev/cve/CVE-2025-38311

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