CVE-2025-38466 perf: Revert to requiring CAP_SYS_ADMIN for uprobes
Attackers can exploit uprobes to corrupt memory or crash the system by targeting invalid instruction boundaries, requiring CAP_SYS_ADMIN privileges.
- 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
What is CVE-2025-38466?
CVE-2025-38466 is a high-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:
perf: Revert to requiring CAP_SYS_ADMIN for uprobes
Jann reports that uprobes can be used destructively when used in the middle of an instruction. The kernel only verifies there is a valid instruction at the requested offset, but due to variable instruction length cannot determine if this is an instruction as seen by the intended execution stream.
Additionally, Mark Rutland notes that on architectures that mix data in the text segment (like arm64), a similar things can be done if the data word is 'mistaken' for an instruction.
As such, require CAP_SYS_ADMIN for uprobes.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38466?
It affects 2 products.
Products include Debian Debian Linux, Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2025-38466?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2025-38466 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38466 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux
Sources
Also known as AZL-65699, AZL-72959, BELL-CVE-2025-38466, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38466, GHSA-fr3c-c44p-6638, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2025-38466 and 4 more.