{"answers":{"affected":"It affects 1 product.","exploited":"There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38554 in the wild and no public exploit code.","fix":"Apply the vendor's patch.","what":"CVE-2025-38554 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 19 Aug 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim."},"fix_prompt":"Check this codebase for CVE-2025-38554 and fix it if it is affected.\n\nWhat it is: CVE-2025-38554 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 19 Aug 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.\nExploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38554 in the wild and no public exploit code.\n\nAffected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.\n\nTask:\n1. 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.\n2. 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.\n3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.\n4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.\n5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.\n\nReference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38554/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38554/index.md)","id":"CVE-2025-38554","markdown":"https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38554/index.md","name":"CVE-2025-38554","record":{"aliases":["BELL-CVE-2025-38554","GHSA-wf4q-q8qj-834v","UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38554"],"analysis":{"component_type":"kernel","fix_type":"patch","impacts":["code_execution","privilege_escalation"],"network_reachable":"adjacent_or_local","non_default_config":false,"product_category":"Linux kernel","requires_auth":"low_privilege","summary":"A race condition in the Linux kernel memory management subsystem allows a use-after-free, potentially leading to code execution or privilege escalation.","user_interaction":"not_required","vuln_class":"use_after_free"},"analysis_generated_by":"qwen3.8-flash-next","assigner":"Linux","cpe":[{"product":"linux_kernel","vendor":"linux"}],"cvss":{"score":7.8,"severity":"high","source":"cna","vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","version":"3.1"},"cwes":[{"id":"CWE-416","name":"Use After Free"}],"description":"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nmm: fix a UAF when vma-\u003emm is freed after vma-\u003evm_refcnt got dropped\n\nBy inducing delays in the right places, Jann Horn created a reproducer for\na hard to hit UAF issue that became possible after VMAs were allowed to be\nrecycled by adding SLAB_TYPESAFE_BY_RCU to their cache.\n\nRace description is borrowed from Jann's discovery report:\nlock_vma_under_rcu() looks up a VMA locklessly with mas_walk() under\nrcu_read_lock().  At that point, the VMA may be concurrently freed, and it\ncan be recycled by another process.  vma_start_read() then increments the\nvma-\u003evm_refcnt (if it is in an acceptable range), and if this succeeds,\nvma_start_read() can return a recycled VMA.\n\nIn this scenario where the VMA has been recycled, lock_vma_under_rcu()\nwill then detect the mismatching -\u003evm_mm pointer and drop the VMA through\nvma_end_read(), which calls vma_refcount_put().  vma_refcount_put() drops\nthe refcount and then calls rcuwait_wake_up() using a copy of vma-\u003evm_mm. \nThis is wrong: It implicitly assumes that the caller is keeping the VMA's\nmm alive, but in this scenario the caller has no relation to the VMA's mm,\nso the rcuwait_wake_up() can cause UAF.\n\nThe diagram depicting the race:\nT1         T2         T3\n==         ==         ==\nlock_vma_under_rcu\n  mas_walk\n          \u003cVMA gets removed from mm\u003e\n                      mmap\n                        \u003cthe same VMA is reallocated\u003e\n  vma_start_read\n    __refcount_inc_not_zero_limited_acquire\n                      munmap\n                        __vma_enter_locked\n                          refcount_add_not_zero\n  vma_end_read\n    vma_refcount_put\n      __refcount_dec_and_test\n                          rcuwait_wait_event\n                            \u003cfinish operation\u003e\n      rcuwait_wake_up [UAF]\n\nNote that rcuwait_wait_event() in T3 does not block because refcount was\nalready dropped by T1.  At this point T3 can exit and free the mm causing\nUAF in T1.\n\nTo avoid this we move vma-\u003evm_mm verification into vma_start_read() and\ngrab vma-\u003evm_mm to stabilize it before vma_refcount_put() operation.\n\n[surenb@google.com: v3]","ecosystems":[],"exploits":{"exploitdb":0,"first_seen":null,"github_poc":0,"max_poc_stars":null,"metasploit":0,"nuclei":0,"refs":[],"tier":"none_known"},"has_fix":true,"headline":"mm: fix a UAF when vma-\u003emm is freed after vma-\u003evm_refcnt got dropped","id":"CVE-2025-38554","indexable":true,"kev":null,"kind":"cve","links":{"ecosystem":null,"product":"linux:linux_kernel","products":["linux:linux_kernel"],"type":"use_after_free","year":"2025"},"n_packages":0,"n_references":3,"next":{"headline":"usb: gadget : fix use-after-free in composite_dev_cleanup()","id":"CVE-2025-38555"},"packages":[],"prev":{"headline":"This CVE ID has been rejected or withdrawn by its CVE Numbering Authority.","id":"CVE-2025-38553"},"products":["Linux"],"published":"2025-08-19","related":[{"cvss_score":8.8,"headline":"Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write","id":"CVE-2026-53266","kev_date_added":"2026-09-18","published":"2026-06-25"},{"cvss_score":8.8,"headline":"Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation","id":"CVE-2013-6282","kev_date_added":"2022-09-15","published":"2013-11-19"},{"cvss_score":8.4,"headline":"Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow","id":"CVE-2022-0185","kev_date_added":"2024-08-21","published":"2022-02-11"},{"cvss_score":8.4,"headline":"Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation","id":"CVE-2013-2094","kev_date_added":"2022-09-15","published":"2013-05-14"},{"cvss_score":7.8,"headline":"Linux Kernel Unspecified","id":"CVE-2026-53362","kev_date_added":"2026-08-27","published":"2026-07-04"},{"cvss_score":7.8,"headline":"Linux Kernel Missing Initialization of a Variable","id":"CVE-2026-46300","kev_date_added":"2026-10-28","published":"2026-05-23"},{"cvss_score":7.8,"headline":"Linux Kernel Race Condition","id":"CVE-2025-39964","kev_date_added":"2026-09-18","published":"2025-10-13"}],"sources":[{"class":"attribution","licence":"CVE Terms of Use (MITRE)","name":"CVE List","prefix":"CVE"},{"class":"attribution","licence":"US public information, NVD API terms","name":"NVD"},{"class":"attribution","licence":"CWE Terms of Use","name":"CWE (MITRE)"},{"class":"attribution","licence":"FIRST CVSS licence","name":"CVSS (FIRST)"}],"ssvc":{"automatable":null,"exploitation":null,"technical_impact":null},"state":"PUBLISHED","updated":"2026-08-05","vendors":["Linux"]},"summary":"A race condition in the Linux kernel memory management subsystem allows a use-after-free, potentially leading to code execution or privilege escalation.","url":"https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38554/"}