CVE-2025-38282

MEDIUM

Linux Kernel 6.1-6.1.141, 6.2-6.6.93, 6.7-6.12.33, 6.13-6.15.2 - DoS via Active Reference Lifecycle Mismanagement

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: kernfs: Relax constraint in draining guard The active reference lifecycle provides the break/unbreak mechanism but the active reference is not truly active after unbreak -- callers don't use it afterwards but it's important for proper pairing of kn->active counting. Assuming this mechanism is in place, the WARN check in kernfs_should_drain_open_files() is too sensitive -- it may transiently catch those (rightful) callers between kernfs_unbreak_active_protection() and kernfs_put_active() as found out by Chen Ridong: kernfs_remove_by_name_ns kernfs_get_active // active=1 __kernfs_remove // active=0x80000002 kernfs_drain ... wait_event //waiting (active == 0x80000001) kernfs_break_active_protection // active = 0x80000001 // continue kernfs_unbreak_active_protection // active = 0x80000002 ... kernfs_should_drain_open_files // warning occurs kernfs_put_active To avoid the false positives (mind panic_on_warn) remove the check altogether. (This is meant as quick fix, I think active reference break/unbreak may be simplified with larger rework.)

Scores

CVSS v3 5.5
EPSS 0.0007
EPSS Percentile 21.3%
Attack Vector LOCAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Details

Status published
Products (18)
debian/debian_linux 11.0
linux/Kernel 6.1.0 - 6.1.142linux
linux/Kernel 6.13.0 - 6.15.3linux
linux/Kernel 6.2.0 - 6.6.94linux
linux/Kernel 6.7.0 - 6.12.34linux
Linux/Linux < 6.1
Linux/Linux 6.1
Linux/Linux 6.1.142 - 6.1.*
Linux/Linux 6.12.34 - 6.12.*
Linux/Linux 6.15.3 - 6.15.*
... and 8 more
Published Jul 10, 2025
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026