CVE-2025-38238 scsi: fnic: Fix crash in fnic_wq_cmpl_handler when FDMI times out
A double-free vulnerability in the fnic SCSI driver causes a kernel crash when FDMI requests time out, leading to denial of service.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2025-38238?
CVE-2025-38238 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 9 Jul 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:
scsi: fnic: Fix crash in fnic_wq_cmpl_handler when FDMI times out
When both the RHBA and RPA FDMI requests time out, fnic reuses a frame to send ABTS for each of them. On send completion, this causes an attempt to free the same frame twice that leads to a crash.
Fix crash by allocating separate frames for RHBA and RPA, and modify ABTS logic accordingly.
Tested by checking MDS for FDMI information.
Tested by using instrumented driver to:
- Drop PLOGI response - Drop RHBA response - Drop RPA response - Drop RHBA and RPA response - Drop PLOGI response + ABTS response - Drop RHBA response + ABTS response - Drop RPA response + ABTS response - Drop RHBA and RPA response + ABTS response for both of them
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38238?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2025-38238?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. These bugs are found with fuzzing and sanitisers and avoided by memory-safe languages. More about Use after free.
Is CVE-2025-38238 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38238 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2025-38238, GHSA-xh6p-h9xv-5c64, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38238.