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CVE-2025-38691 medium CVSS 5.5

Vulnerability in Linux kernel (CVE-2025-38691)

Summary

Vulnerability in Linux kernel (CVE-2025-38691). Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure.

Original description

The description as published by the source.

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

pNFS: Fix uninited ptr deref in block/scsi layout

The error occurs on the third attempt to encode extents. When function
ext_tree_prepare_commit() reallocates a larger buffer to retry encoding
extents, the "layoutupdate_pages" page array is initialized only after the
retry loop. But ext_tree_free_commitdata() is called on every iteration
and tries to put pages in the array, thus dereferencing uninitialized
pointers.

An additional problem is that there is no limit on the maximum possible
buffer_size. When there are too many extents, the client may create a
layoutcommit that is larger than the maximum possible RPC size accepted
by the server.

During testing, we observed two typical scenarios. First, one memory page
for extents is enough when we work with small files, append data to the
end of the file, or preallocate extents before writing. But when we fill
a new large file without preallocating, the number of extents can be huge,
and counting the number of written extents in ext_tree_encode_commit()
does not help much. Since this number increases even more between
unlocking and locking of ext_tree, the reallocated buffer may not be
large enough again and again.

Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database NVD GitHub Advisory

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-2025-38691 has been found in Linux kernel.
Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure. CVSS score: 5.5/10.
What to do: apply the vendor's official patched release.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "Linux kernel CVE-2025-38691" on the vendor's site.

CVE-2025-38691 (Linux kernel) — CWE-908 / CVSS v3 5.5
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.

❓ What is the problem

A vulnerability (CWE-908) exists in Linux kernel.

📍 Affected scope

Check the vendor advisory for the affected versions of Linux kernel.

🔥 Severity

Severity: Medium (CVSS 5.5/10). Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure.

🔧 How to fix

Update to the patched release per vendor advisory.

🛡️ Workaround

Until the patch is applied: disable the affected feature, apply WAF rules, or restrict access via network ACLs.

🔍 Detection

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

  1. 1
    Identify 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。

  2. 2
    Post-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

Linux Kernel
[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"3.18.0"},{"fixed":"5.4.297"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"5.5.0"},{"fixed":"5.10.241"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"5.11.0"},{"fixed":"5.15.190"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"5.16.0"},{"fixed":"6.1.149"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"6.2.0"},{"fixed":"6.6.103"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"6.7.0"},{"fixed":"6.12.43"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"6.13.0"},{"fixed":"6.15.11"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"6.16.0"},{"fixed":"6.16.2"}]}]

Fix status by distribution

Fixed packages published by each distribution for this CVE

References

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