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CVE-2025-38554
HIGH · CVSS 7.8
EPSS exploitation probability: 0%
Published 2025-08-19T17:15:31.510 · Last modified 2026-06-17T09:17:05.940

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm: fix a UAF when vma->mm is freed after vma->vm_refcnt got dropped By inducing delays in the right places, Jann Horn created a reproducer for a hard to hit UAF issue that became possible after VMAs were allowed to be recycled by adding SLAB_TYPESAFE_BY_RCU to their cache. Race description is borrowed from Jann's discovery report: lock_vma_under_rcu() looks up a VMA locklessly with mas_walk() under rcu_read_lock(). At that point, the VMA may be concurrently freed, and it can be recycled by another process. vma_start_read() then increments the vma->vm_refcnt (if it is in an acceptable range), and if this succeeds, vma_start_read() can return a recycled VMA. In this scenario where the VMA has been recycled, lock_vma_u

Affected products

linux — linux_kernel

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References

This product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Informational only; not professional security advice.