# CVE-2025-38062: genirq/msi: Store the IOMMU IOVA directly in msi_desc instead of iommu_cookie

> A race condition in Linux kernel MSI handling allows use-after-free, potentially enabling local privilege escalation or code execution.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 18 Jun 2025
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-64058, AZL-72754, BELL-CVE-2025-38062, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38062, GHSA-35hv-9h7x-xw9j, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2025-38062, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-38062, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-38062, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-38062, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38062

## What is CVE-2025-38062?

CVE-2025-38062 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 18 Jun 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

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

genirq/msi: Store the IOMMU IOVA directly in msi_desc instead of iommu_cookie

The IOMMU translation for MSI message addresses has been a 2-step process,
separated in time:

 1) iommu_dma_prepare_msi(): A cookie pointer containing the IOVA address
    is stored in the MSI descriptor when an MSI interrupt is allocated.

 2) iommu_dma_compose_msi_msg(): this cookie pointer is used to compute a
    translated message address.

This has an inherent lifetime problem for the pointer stored in the cookie
that must remain valid between the two steps. However, there is no locking
at the irq layer that helps protect the lifetime. Today, this works under
the assumption that the iommu domain is not changed while MSI interrupts
being programmed. This is true for normal DMA API users within the kernel,
as the iommu domain is attached before the driver is probed and cannot be
changed while a driver is attached.

Classic VFIO type1 also prevented changing the iommu domain while VFIO was
running as it does not support changing the "container" after starting up.

However, iommufd has improved this so that the iommu domain can be changed
during VFIO operation. This potentially allows userspace to directly race
VFIO_DEVICE_ATTACH_IOMMUFD_PT (which calls iommu_attach_group()) and
VFIO_DEVICE_SET_IRQS (which calls into iommu_dma_compose_msi_msg()).

This potentially causes both the cookie pointer and the unlocked call to
iommu_get_domain_for_dev() on the MSI translation path to become UAFs.

Fix the MSI cookie UAF by removing the cookie pointer. The translated IOVA
address is already known during iommu_dma_prepare_msi() and cannot change.
Thus, it can simply be stored as an integer in the MSI descriptor.

The other UAF related to iommu_get_domain_for_dev() will be addressed in
patch "iommu: Make iommu_dma_prepare_msi() into a generic operation" by
using the IOMMU group mutex.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38062?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Debian Debian Linux, Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-38062?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-38062 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38062 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux

- [CVE-2015-3306](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-3306/): ProFTPD Improper Access Control (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-49113](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-49113/): RoundCube Webmail Deserialization of Untrusted Data (critical 9.9, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-24061](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-24061/): GNU InetUtils Argument Injection (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-39682](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-39682/): Linux Kernel Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-9680](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-9680/): Mozilla Firefox Use-After-Free (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-38062 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-38062 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 18 Jun 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38062 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Debian Debian Linux. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38062/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38062/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38062
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38062
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-38062

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38062/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.