dbcve.org
Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2025-38464

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-07-25
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.4.296 / 5.10.240 or later.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
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: tipc: Fix use-after-free in tipc_conn_close(). syzbot reported a null-ptr-deref in tipc_conn_close() during netns dismantle. [0] tipc_topsrv_stop() iterates tipc_net(net)->topsrv->conn_idr and calls tipc_conn_close() for each tipc_conn. The problem is that tipc_conn_close() is called after releasing the IDR lock. At the same time, there might be tipc_conn_recv_work() running and it could call tipc_conn_close() for the same tipc_conn and release its last ->kref. Once we release the IDR lock in tipc_topsrv_stop(), there is no guarantee that the tipc_conn is alive. Let's hold the ref before releasing the lock and put the ref after tipc_conn_close() in tipc_topsrv_stop(). [0]: BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in tipc_conn_close+0x122/0x140 net/tipc/topsrv.c:165 Read of size 8 at addr ffff888099305a08 by task kworker/u4:3/435 CPU: 0 PID: 435 Comm: kworker/u4:3 Not tainted 4.19.204-syzkaller #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 01/01/2011 Workqueue: netns cleanup_net Call Trace: __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:77 [inline] dump_stack+0x1fc/0x2ef lib/dump_stack.c:118 print_address_description.cold+0x54/0x219 mm/kasan/report.c:256 kasan_report_error.cold+0x8a/0x1b9 mm/kasan/report.c:354 kasan_report mm/kasan/report.c:412 [inline] __asan_report_load8_noabort+0x88/0x90 mm/kasan/report.c:433 tipc_conn_close+0x122/0x140 net/tipc/topsrv.c:165 tipc_topsrv_stop net/tipc/topsrv.c:701 [inline] tipc_topsrv_exit_net+0x27b/0x5c0 net/tipc/topsrv.c:722 ops_exit_list+0xa5/0x150 net/core/net_namespace.c:153 cleanup_net+0x3b4/0x8b0 net/core/net_namespace.c:553 process_one_work+0x864/0x1570 kernel/workqueue.c:2153 worker_thread+0x64c/0x1130 kernel/workqueue.c:2296 kthread+0x33f/0x460 kernel/kthread.c:259 ret_from_fork+0x24/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:415 Allocated by task 23: kmem_cache_alloc_trace+0x12f/0x380 mm/slab.c:3625 kmalloc include/linux/slab.h:515 [inline] kzalloc include/linux/slab.h:709 [inline] tipc_conn_alloc+0x43/0x4f0 net/tipc/topsrv.c:192 tipc_topsrv_accept+0x1b5/0x280 net/tipc/topsrv.c:470 process_one_work+0x864/0x1570 kernel/workqueue.c:2153 worker_thread+0x64c/0x1130 kernel/workqueue.c:2296 kthread+0x33f/0x460 kernel/kthread.c:259 ret_from_fork+0x24/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:415 Freed by task 23: __cache_free mm/slab.c:3503 [inline] kfree+0xcc/0x210 mm/slab.c:3822 tipc_conn_kref_release net/tipc/topsrv.c:150 [inline] kref_put include/linux/kref.h:70 [inline] conn_put+0x2cd/0x3a0 net/tipc/topsrv.c:155 process_one_work+0x864/0x1570 kernel/workqueue.c:2153 worker_thread+0x64c/0x1130 kernel/workqueue.c:2296 kthread+0x33f/0x460 kernel/kthread.c:259 ret_from_fork+0x24/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:415 The buggy address belongs to the object at ffff888099305a00 which belongs to the cache kmalloc-512 of size 512 The buggy address is located 8 bytes inside of 512-byte region [ffff888099305a00, ffff888099305c00) The buggy address belongs to the page: page:ffffea000264c140 count:1 mapcount:0 mapping:ffff88813bff0940 index:0x0 flags: 0xfff00000000100(slab) raw: 00fff00000000100 ffffea00028b6b88 ffffea0002cd2b08 ffff88813bff0940 raw: 0000000000000000 ffff888099305000 0000000100000006 0000000000000000 page dumped because: kasan: bad access detected Memory state around the buggy address: ffff888099305900: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb ffff888099305980: fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc >ffff888099305a00: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb ^ ffff888099305a80: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb ffff888099305b00: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb

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-416

Memory 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
Linux KernelOperating system
Affected:>= 3.11, < 5.4.296>= 5.5, < 5.10.240>= 5.11, < 5.15.189>= 5.16, < 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
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 · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 5.4.296 / 5.10.240 / 5.15.189 or later
Fixed in 5.4.2965.10.2405.15.189
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to kernel version 5.4.296+, 5.10.240+, 5.15.189+, or 6.1.146+ (recommended: 6.1.146 or later LTS)

  1. Identify current kernel version with `uname -r`
  2. Determine the appropriate upgrade path based on your current kernel branch (5.4.x, 5.10.x, 5.15.x, or 6.1.x)
  3. For RHEL/CentOS systems: update via `yum update kernel` or `dnf update kernel`
  4. For Debian/Ubuntu systems: update via `apt-get update && apt-get upgrade linux-image-*`
  5. For upstream kernel builds: obtain source from kernel.org and rebuild, targeting version >= 6.1.146 for the 6.1 LTS branch
  6. Reboot the system to load the fixed kernel
  7. Verify the new kernel version with `uname -r` and confirm it is >= the fixed version for your branch
Caveat Standard kernel upgrade risks apply - ensure compatibility with custom drivers/modules and verify application support; minor config adjustments may be needed after major version jumps

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 $3,200. 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-2025-38464 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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