# CVE-2025-38449: drm/gem: Acquire references on GEM handles for framebuffers > A local attacker can trigger a use-after-free in the Linux kernel DRM subsystem by releasing GEM handles, causing a segmentation fault and system crash. - **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:** 25 Jul 2025 - **Updated:** 15 Oct 2026 - **Also known as:** AZL-65786, AZL-70510, BELL-CVE-2025-38449, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38449, GHSA-p8xh-x6wj-7w7g, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2025-38449, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-38449, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-38449, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-38449, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38449 ## What is CVE-2025-38449? CVE-2025-38449 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux kernel, 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: drm/gem: Acquire references on GEM handles for framebuffers A GEM handle can be released while the GEM buffer object is attached to a DRM framebuffer. This leads to the release of the dma-buf backing the buffer object, if any. [1] Trying to use the framebuffer in further mode-setting operations leads to a segmentation fault. Most easily happens with driver that use shadow planes for vmap-ing the dma-buf during a page flip. An example is shown below. [ 156.791968] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 156.796830] WARNING: CPU: 2 PID: 2255 at drivers/dma-buf/dma-buf.c:1527 dma_buf_vmap+0x224/0x430 [...] [ 156.942028] RIP: 0010:dma_buf_vmap+0x224/0x430 [ 157.043420] Call Trace: [ 157.045898] [ 157.048030] ? show_trace_log_lvl+0x1af/0x2c0 [ 157.052436] ? show_trace_log_lvl+0x1af/0x2c0 [ 157.056836] ? show_trace_log_lvl+0x1af/0x2c0 [ 157.061253] ? drm_gem_shmem_vmap+0x74/0x710 [ 157.065567] ? dma_buf_vmap+0x224/0x430 [ 157.069446] ? __warn.cold+0x58/0xe4 [ 157.073061] ? dma_buf_vmap+0x224/0x430 [ 157.077111] ? report_bug+0x1dd/0x390 [ 157.080842] ? handle_bug+0x5e/0xa0 [ 157.084389] ? exc_invalid_op+0x14/0x50 [ 157.088291] ? asm_exc_invalid_op+0x16/0x20 [ 157.092548] ? dma_buf_vmap+0x224/0x430 [ 157.096663] ? dma_resv_get_singleton+0x6d/0x230 [ 157.101341] ? __pfx_dma_buf_vmap+0x10/0x10 [ 157.105588] ? __pfx_dma_resv_get_singleton+0x10/0x10 [ 157.110697] drm_gem_shmem_vmap+0x74/0x710 [ 157.114866] drm_gem_vmap+0xa9/0x1b0 [ 157.118763] drm_gem_vmap_unlocked+0x46/0xa0 [ 157.123086] drm_gem_fb_vmap+0xab/0x300 [ 157.126979] drm_atomic_helper_prepare_planes.part.0+0x487/0xb10 [ 157.133032] ? lockdep_init_map_type+0x19d/0x880 [ 157.137701] drm_atomic_helper_commit+0x13d/0x2e0 [ 157.142671] ? drm_atomic_nonblocking_commit+0xa0/0x180 [ 157.147988] drm_mode_atomic_ioctl+0x766/0xe40 [...] [ 157.346424] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- Acquiring GEM handles for the framebuffer's GEM buffer objects prevents this from happening. The framebuffer's cleanup later puts the handle references. Commit 1a148af06000 ("drm/gem-shmem: Use dma_buf from GEM object instance") triggers the segmentation fault easily by using the dma-buf field more widely. The underlying issue with reference counting has been present before. v2: - acquire the handle instead of the BO (Christian) - fix comment style (Christian) - drop the Fixes tag (Christian) - rename err_ gotos - add missing Link tag Weakness: CWE-416 (Use After Free) ## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38449? It affects 1 product. Products: Linux kernel. ## How do I fix CVE-2025-38449? Apply the vendor's patch. ## Is CVE-2025-38449 being exploited? There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38449 in the wild and no public exploit code. ## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel - [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild) - [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild) - [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild) - [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild) - [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild) ## Fix prompt for AI coding agents ```text Check this codebase for CVE-2025-38449 and fix it if it is affected. What it is: CVE-2025-38449 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux kernel, 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-2025-38449 in the wild and no public exploit code. Affected product: Linux kernel. 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-2025-38449/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38449/index.md) ``` ## Sources - CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38449 - NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38449 - OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-38449 --- From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38449/ Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.