Vulnerability in Linux kernel (CVE-2025-38242)
Summary
Vulnerability in Linux kernel (CVE-2025-38242). Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover.
Original description
The description as published by the source.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
mm: userfaultfd: fix race of userfaultfd_move and swap cache
This commit fixes two kinds of races, they may have different results:
Barry reported a BUG_ON in commit c50f8e6053b0, we may see the same
BUG_ON if the filemap lookup returned NULL and folio is added to swap
cache after that.
If another kind of race is triggered (folio changed after lookup) we
may see RSS counter is corrupted:
[ 406.893936] BUG: Bad rss-counter state mm:ffff0000c5a9ddc0
type:MM_ANONPAGES val:-1
[ 406.894071] BUG: Bad rss-counter state mm:ffff0000c5a9ddc0
type:MM_SHMEMPAGES val:1
Because the folio is being accounted to the wrong VMA.
I'm not sure if there will be any data corruption though, seems no.
The issues above are critical already.
On seeing a swap entry PTE, userfaultfd_move does a lockless swap cache
lookup, and tries to move the found folio to the faulting vma. Currently,
it relies on checking the PTE value to ensure that the moved folio still
belongs to the src swap entry and that no new folio has been added to the
swap cache, which turns out to be unreliable.
While working and reviewing the swap table series with Barry, following
existing races are observed and reproduced [1]:
In the example below, move_pages_pte is moving src_pte to dst_pte, where
src_pte is a swap entry PTE holding swap entry S1, and S1 is not in the
swap cache:
CPU1 CPU2
userfaultfd_move
move_pages_pte()…
Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database NVD
Auto-generated summary
Assembled by SecPulse from the source data (CVSS, CWE, affected versions) using templates — no AI involved. Check the original description and references below for exact details.
A vulnerability tracked as CVE-2025-38242 has been found in Linux kernel.
Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover. CVSS score: 7.8/10.
What to do: apply the vendor's official patched release.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "Linux kernel CVE-2025-38242" on the vendor's site.
CVE-2025-38242 (Linux kernel) — CWE-362 / CVSS v3 7.8
Attack vector: local / no user interaction
Plan: 1) Audit SBOM/dependencies, 2) Stage→prod upgrade, 3) Add WAF/proxy monitoring on affected endpoints, 4) Hunt IOCs in logs.
Refs: see the GHSA / vendor advisory / patched release linked on this page.
A vulnerability (CWE-362) exists in Linux kernel.
Check the vendor advisory for the affected versions of Linux kernel.
Severity: High (CVSS 7.8/10). Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover.
Update to the patched release per vendor advisory.
Until the patch is applied: disable the affected feature, apply WAF rules, or restrict access via network ACLs.
Search webserver/proxy logs for unusual request patterns matching this CVE's known IOCs. Audit SBOM/dependencies to find affected services.
Response actions
Concrete steps and command examples for SOC/SRE teams to execute in order
-
1Identify exposure identify
Audit SBOM/dependencies for affected components.資産台帳・SBOM・依存マニフェストで Linux kernel を使っているサービスとバージョンを洗い出す。
-
2Post-deployment verification verify
Confirm patched version is live in productionパッチ適用後、ステージングで PoC または同等の悪用パターンを再現して脆弱性が閉じたことを確認。本番ではアクセスログ・WAF でアラート再発が無いか継続監視。
Affected packages
Fix status by distribution
Fixed packages published by each distribution for this CVE
- BellSoft Alpaquita BELL-CVE-2025-38242 linux-lts Fixed in: 6.12.41-r0
- Debian DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38242 linux Fixed in: 6.12.37-1
- Ubuntu UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38242 linux-hwe-edge
References
- advisory github.com
- advisory nvd.nist.gov
- package git.kernel.org
- web git.kernel.org
- web git.kernel.org
- web git.kernel.org