# CVE-2025-38282: kernfs: Relax constraint in draining guard

> A race condition in the Linux kernel's kernfs subsystem can trigger a kernel panic if panic_on_warn is enabled, causing a denial of service.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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:** 10 Jul 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-65022, BELL-CVE-2025-38282, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38282, GHSA-546w-ffx9-gj3g, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-38282, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-38282, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38282

## What is CVE-2025-38282?

CVE-2025-38282 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 10 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:

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.)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38282?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Debian Debian Linux, Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-38282?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-38282 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38282 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-2025-38282 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-38282 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 10 Jul 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-2025-38282 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-2025-38282/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38282/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38282
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38282
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-38282

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38282/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.