Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
bpf: dont report verifier bug for missing bpf_scc_visit on speculative path
Syzbot generated a program that triggers a verifier_bug() call in maybe_exit_scc(). maybe_exit_scc() assumes that, when called for a state with insn_idx in some SCC, there should be an instance of struct bpf_scc_visit allocated for that SCC. Turns out the assumption does not hold for speculative execution paths. See example in the next patch.
maybe_scc_exit() is called from update_branch_counts() for states that reach branch count of zero, meaning that path exploration for a particular path is finished. Path exploration can finish in one of three ways: a. Verification error is found. In this case, update_branch_counts() is called only for non-speculative paths. b. Top level BPF_EXIT is reached. Such instructions are never a part of an SCC, so compute_scc_callchain() in maybe_scc_exit() will return false, and maybe_scc_exit() will return early. c. A checkpoint is reached and matched. Checkpoints are created by is_state_visited(), which calls maybe_enter_scc(), which allocates bpf_scc_visit instances for checkpoints within SCCs.
Hence, for non-speculative symbolic execution paths, the assumption still holds: if maybe_scc_exit() is called for a state within an SCC, bpf_scc_visit instance must exist.
This patch removes the verifier_bug() call for speculative paths.
Metrics
No CVSS score has been published yet.
Affected software
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | >= c9e31900b54cadf5398dfb838c0a63effa1defec, < 3861e7c4324aa20a632fb74eb3904114f6afdb57; >= c9e31900b54cadf5398dfb838c0a63effa1defec, < a3c73d629ea1373af3c0c954d41fd1af555492e3 |
| Linux | Linux | 6.17 |
References
Timeline
- Published
- Nov 12, 2025
- Last modified
- Oct 19, 2026
- NVD status
- Deferred