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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2025-38444

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-07-25
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.15.189 / 6.1.146 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click Patch available

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 · unedited
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: raid10: cleanup memleak at raid10_make_request If raid10_read_request or raid10_write_request registers a new request and the REQ_NOWAIT flag is set, the code does not free the malloc from the mempool. unreferenced object 0xffff8884802c3200 (size 192): comm "fio", pid 9197, jiffies 4298078271 hex dump (first 32 bytes): 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 88 41 02 00 00 00 00 00 .........A...... 08 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ backtrace (crc c1a049a2): __kmalloc+0x2bb/0x450 mempool_alloc+0x11b/0x320 raid10_make_request+0x19e/0x650 [raid10] md_handle_request+0x3b3/0x9e0 __submit_bio+0x394/0x560 __submit_bio_noacct+0x145/0x530 submit_bio_noacct_nocheck+0x682/0x830 __blkdev_direct_IO_async+0x4dc/0x6b0 blkdev_read_iter+0x1e5/0x3b0 __io_read+0x230/0x1110 io_read+0x13/0x30 io_issue_sqe+0x134/0x1180 io_submit_sqes+0x48c/0xe90 __do_sys_io_uring_enter+0x574/0x8b0 do_syscall_64+0x5c/0xe0 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e V4: changing backing tree to see if CKI tests will pass. The patch code has not changed between any versions.

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 analysis
How this class of weakness works · CWE-401

Allocated memory is never released on some path, so a long-running service or a repeatedly triggered request steadily consumes memory until performance degrades or the process crashes. Attackers exploit it by simply driving the leaking path. Remediation is pairing every allocation with a release and using ownership patterns or tooling to catch what leaks.

General guidance for the memory leak 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
Linux KernelOperating system
Affected:>= 5.15.111, < 5.15.189>= 5.17, < 6.1.146>= 6.2, < 6.6.99>= 6.7, < 6.12.39>= 6.13, < 6.15.7= 6.16
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 11.0

CVSS 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
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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 · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 5.15.189 / 6.1.146 / 6.6.99 or later
Fixed in 5.15.1896.1.1466.6.99
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Linux Kernel 5.15.189 / 6.1.146 / 6.6.99 / 6.12.39 (depending on which branch is currently in use)

  1. Identify the current running kernel version using 'uname -r'
  2. For Debian 11 (Bullseye), check if a newer kernel is available via 'apt update' and 'apt-cache policy linux-image-*'
  3. If the distribution kernel is older than the fixed versions, consider one of: (a) upgrading the distribution to receive kernel updates, (b) using backports for a newer kernel, or (c) compiling a custom kernel from kernel.org
  4. For other Linux distributions, upgrade to a kernel version >= 5.15.189, 6.1.146, 6.6.99, or 6.12.39 as appropriate for your kernel branch
  5. After kernel upgrade, reboot the system to load the fixed kernel
  6. Verify the fix is applied by checking the kernel version matches or exceeds the fixed releases
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require system reboot and could introduce compatibility changes with out-of-tree drivers or custom modules

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $1,600. Get the upgrade done

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-38444 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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