CVE-2025-38106
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedIn the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: io_uring: fix use-after-free of sq->thread in __io_uring_show_fdinfo() syzbot reports: BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in getrusage+0x1109/0x1a60 Read of size 8 at addr ffff88810de2d2c8 by task a.out/304 CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 304 Comm: a.out Not tainted 6.16.0-rc1 #1 PREEMPT(voluntary) Hardware name: QEMU Ubuntu 24.04 PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.16.3-debian-1.16.3-2 04/01/2014 Call Trace: <TASK> dump_stack_lvl+0x53/0x70 print_report+0xd0/0x670 ? __pfx__raw_spin_lock_irqsave+0x10/0x10 ? getrusage+0x1109/0x1a60 kasan_report+0xce/0x100 ? getrusage+0x1109/0x1a60 getrusage+0x1109/0x1a60 ? __pfx_getrusage+0x10/0x10 __io_uring_show_fdinfo+0x9fe/0x1790 ? ksys_read+0xf7/0x1c0 ? do_syscall_64+0xa4/0x260 ? vsnprintf+0x591/0x1100 ? __pfx___io_uring_show_fdinfo+0x10/0x10 ? __pfx_vsnprintf+0x10/0x10 ? mutex_trylock+0xcf/0x130 ? __pfx_mutex_trylock+0x10/0x10 ? __pfx_show_fd_locks+0x10/0x10 ? io_uring_show_fdinfo+0x57/0x80 io_uring_show_fdinfo+0x57/0x80 seq_show+0x38c/0x690 seq_read_iter+0x3f7/0x1180 ? inode_set_ctime_current+0x160/0x4b0 seq_read+0x271/0x3e0 ? __pfx_seq_read+0x10/0x10 ? __pfx__raw_spin_lock+0x10/0x10 ? __mark_inode_dirty+0x402/0x810 ? selinux_file_permission+0x368/0x500 ? file_update_time+0x10f/0x160 vfs_read+0x177/0xa40 ? __pfx___handle_mm_fault+0x10/0x10 ? __pfx_vfs_read+0x10/0x10 ? mutex_lock+0x81/0xe0 ? __pfx_mutex_lock+0x10/0x10 ? fdget_pos+0x24d/0x4b0 ksys_read+0xf7/0x1c0 ? __pfx_ksys_read+0x10/0x10 ? do_user_addr_fault+0x43b/0x9c0 do_syscall_64+0xa4/0x260 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f RIP: 0033:0x7f0f74170fc9 Code: 00 c3 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 0f 1f 44 00 00 48 89 f8 48 89 f7 48 89 d6 48 89 ca 4d 89 c2 4d 89 c8 4c 8b 4c 24 08 0f 05 <48> 3d 01 f0 ff ff 73 01 c3 48 8b 8 RSP: 002b:00007fffece049e8 EFLAGS: 00000206 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000000 RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: 00007f0f74170fc9 RDX: 0000000000001000 RSI: 00007fffece049f0 RDI: 0000000000000004 RBP: 00007fffece05ad0 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 00007fffece04d90 R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000206 R12: 00005651720a1100 R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: 0000000000000000 </TASK> Allocated by task 298: kasan_save_stack+0x33/0x60 kasan_save_track+0x14/0x30 __kasan_slab_alloc+0x6e/0x70 kmem_cache_alloc_node_noprof+0xe8/0x330 copy_process+0x376/0x5e00 create_io_thread+0xab/0xf0 io_sq_offload_create+0x9ed/0xf20 io_uring_setup+0x12b0/0x1cc0 do_syscall_64+0xa4/0x260 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f Freed by task 22: kasan_save_stack+0x33/0x60 kasan_save_track+0x14/0x30 kasan_save_free_info+0x3b/0x60 __kasan_slab_free+0x37/0x50 kmem_cache_free+0xc4/0x360 rcu_core+0x5ff/0x19f0 handle_softirqs+0x18c/0x530 run_ksoftirqd+0x20/0x30 smpboot_thread_fn+0x287/0x6c0 kthread+0x30d/0x630 ret_from_fork+0xef/0x1a0 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 Last potentially related work creation: kasan_save_stack+0x33/0x60 kasan_record_aux_stack+0x8c/0xa0 __call_rcu_common.constprop.0+0x68/0x940 __schedule+0xff2/0x2930 __cond_resched+0x4c/0x80 mutex_lock+0x5c/0xe0 io_uring_del_tctx_node+0xe1/0x2b0 io_uring_clean_tctx+0xb7/0x160 io_uring_cancel_generic+0x34e/0x760 do_exit+0x240/0x2350 do_group_exit+0xab/0x220 __x64_sys_exit_group+0x39/0x40 x64_sys_call+0x1243/0x1840 do_syscall_64+0xa4/0x260 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f The buggy address belongs to the object at ffff88810de2cb00 which belongs to the cache task_struct of size 3712 The buggy address is located 1992 bytes inside of freed 3712-byte region [ffff88810de2cb00, ffff88810de2d980) which is caused by the task_struct pointed to by sq->thread being released while it is being used in the function __io_uring_show_fdinfo(). Holding ctx->uring_lock does not prevent ehre relase or exit of sq->thread. Fix this by assigning and looking up ->thread under RCU, and grabbing a reference to the task_struct. This e ---truncated---
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysisMemory is used after it has been freed, so its contents — now potentially attacker-controlled — drive the program's behaviour. With careful heap grooming this becomes code execution. The fix requires disciplined ownership of memory and often a targeted rework of the object lifecycle.
General guidance for the use after free class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data>= 6.9, < 6.12.34>= 6.13, < 6.15.3= 6.16CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
dbcve · scoped6.12.346.15.3
6.12.34+ or 6.15.3+ (depending on current branch)
- Upgrade the Linux kernel to version 6.12.34 or later if running 6.9-6.12.x series
- Upgrade to version 6.15.3 or later if running 6.13-6.14.x series
- For version 6.16, upgrade to the next stable release (6.16.1 or later) which contains the fix
- After kernel upgrade, reboot the system to load the fixed kernel
- The fix is in commit ac0b8b327a5677dc6fecdf353d808161525b1ff0 which adds RCU protection and reference counting for sq->thread in __io_uring_show_fdinfo()
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-38106 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-38106 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
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