# CVE-2025-38444: raid10: cleanup memleak at raid10_make_request

> A memory leak in the Linux kernel RAID10 driver allows local attackers to exhaust system memory, causing 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:** 25 Jul 2025
- **Updated:** 23 May 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-65693, AZL-72926, BELL-CVE-2025-38444, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38444, GHSA-fm9v-j96x-64jx, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-38444, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-38444, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-38444, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38444

## What is CVE-2025-38444?

CVE-2025-38444 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 25 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:

raid10: cleanup memleak at raid10_make_request

If raid10_read_request or raid10_write_request registers a new
request and the REQ_NOWAIT flag is set, the code does not
free the malloc from the mempool.

unreferenced object 0xffff8884802c3200 (size 192):
   comm "fio", pid 9197, jiffies 4298078271
   hex dump (first 32 bytes):
     00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 88 41 02 00 00 00 00 00  .........A......
     08 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ................
   backtrace (crc c1a049a2):
     __kmalloc+0x2bb/0x450
     mempool_alloc+0x11b/0x320
     raid10_make_request+0x19e/0x650 [raid10]
     md_handle_request+0x3b3/0x9e0
     __submit_bio+0x394/0x560
     __submit_bio_noacct+0x145/0x530
     submit_bio_noacct_nocheck+0x682/0x830
     __blkdev_direct_IO_async+0x4dc/0x6b0
     blkdev_read_iter+0x1e5/0x3b0
     __io_read+0x230/0x1110
     io_read+0x13/0x30
     io_issue_sqe+0x134/0x1180
     io_submit_sqes+0x48c/0xe90
     __do_sys_io_uring_enter+0x574/0x8b0
     do_syscall_64+0x5c/0xe0
     entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e

V4: changing backing tree to see if CKI tests will pass.
The patch code has not changed between any versions.

Weakness: CWE-401 (Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38444?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Debian Debian Linux, Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-38444?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-38444 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38444 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-2025-38444 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-38444 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 25 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-2025-38444 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-2025-38444/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38444/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38444
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38444
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-38444

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38444/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.