# CVE-2025-38462: vsock: Fix transport_{g2h,h2g} TOCTOU

> A race condition in the Linux kernel vsock module can cause a null pointer dereference, leading to a system crash.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.7 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/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:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-65753, AZL-72950, BELL-CVE-2025-38462, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38462, GHSA-wrwc-vxpp-cg2p, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2025-38462, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-38462, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-38462, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-38462, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38462

## What is CVE-2025-38462?

CVE-2025-38462 is a medium-severity 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:

vsock: Fix transport_{g2h,h2g} TOCTOU

vsock_find_cid() and vsock_dev_do_ioctl() may race with module unload.
transport_{g2h,h2g} may become NULL after the NULL check.

Introduce vsock_transport_local_cid() to protect from a potential
null-ptr-deref.

KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000118-0x000000000000011f]
RIP: 0010:vsock_find_cid+0x47/0x90
Call Trace:
 __vsock_bind+0x4b2/0x720
 vsock_bind+0x90/0xe0
 __sys_bind+0x14d/0x1e0
 __x64_sys_bind+0x6e/0xc0
 do_syscall_64+0x92/0x1c0
 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x4b/0x53

KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000118-0x000000000000011f]
RIP: 0010:vsock_dev_do_ioctl.isra.0+0x58/0xf0
Call Trace:
 __x64_sys_ioctl+0x12d/0x190
 do_syscall_64+0x92/0x1c0
 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x4b/0x53

Weakness: CWE-367 (Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38462?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Debian Debian Linux, Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-38462?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-38462 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38462 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux

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- [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-2025-38462 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-38462 is a medium-severity 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-2025-38462 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-2025-38462/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38462/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38462
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38462
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-38462

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38462/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.