CVE-2025-38567 nfsd: avoid ref leak in nfsd_open_local_fh()

What is CVE-2025-38567?

CVE-2025-38567 is a medium-severity 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.

Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

nfsd: avoid ref leak in nfsd_open_local_fh()

If two calls to nfsd_open_local_fh() race and both successfully call nfsd_file_acquire_local(), they will both get an extra reference to the net to accompany the file reference stored in *pnf.

One of them will fail to store (using xchg()) the file reference in *pnf and will drop that reference but WON'T drop the accompanying reference to the net. This leak means that when the nfs server is shut down it will hang in nfsd_shutdown_net() waiting for &nn->nfsd_net_free_done.

This patch adds the missing nfsd_net_put().

Weakness: CWE-362

Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38567?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2025-38567?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2025-38567 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38567 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

• CVE-2026-53266 Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2013-6282 Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2022-0185 Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2013-2094 Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2026-53362 Linux Kernel Unspecified Exploited High 7.8

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as BELL-CVE-2025-38567, GHSA-36x9-553r-v339, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38567.