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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2025-38520

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-08-16
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.16 / 5.19 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: drm/amdkfd: Don't call mmput from MMU notifier callback If the process is exiting, the mmput inside mmu notifier callback from compactd or fork or numa balancing could release the last reference of mm struct to call exit_mmap and free_pgtable, this triggers deadlock with below backtrace. The deadlock will leak kfd process as mmu notifier release is not called and cause VRAM leaking. The fix is to take mm reference mmget_non_zero when adding prange to the deferred list to pair with mmput in deferred list work. If prange split and add into pchild list, the pchild work_item.mm is not used, so remove the mm parameter from svm_range_unmap_split and svm_range_add_child. The backtrace of hung task: INFO: task python:348105 blocked for more than 64512 seconds. Call Trace: __schedule+0x1c3/0x550 schedule+0x46/0xb0 rwsem_down_write_slowpath+0x24b/0x4c0 unlink_anon_vmas+0xb1/0x1c0 free_pgtables+0xa9/0x130 exit_mmap+0xbc/0x1a0 mmput+0x5a/0x140 svm_range_cpu_invalidate_pagetables+0x2b/0x40 [amdgpu] mn_itree_invalidate+0x72/0xc0 __mmu_notifier_invalidate_range_start+0x48/0x60 try_to_unmap_one+0x10fa/0x1400 rmap_walk_anon+0x196/0x460 try_to_unmap+0xbb/0x210 migrate_page_unmap+0x54d/0x7e0 migrate_pages_batch+0x1c3/0xae0 migrate_pages_sync+0x98/0x240 migrate_pages+0x25c/0x520 compact_zone+0x29d/0x590 compact_zone_order+0xb6/0xf0 try_to_compact_pages+0xbe/0x220 __alloc_pages_direct_compact+0x96/0x1a0 __alloc_pages_slowpath+0x410/0x930 __alloc_pages_nodemask+0x3a9/0x3e0 do_huge_pmd_anonymous_page+0xd7/0x3e0 __handle_mm_fault+0x5e3/0x5f0 handle_mm_fault+0xf7/0x2e0 hmm_vma_fault.isra.0+0x4d/0xa0 walk_pmd_range.isra.0+0xa8/0x310 walk_pud_range+0x167/0x240 walk_pgd_range+0x55/0x100 __walk_page_range+0x87/0x90 walk_page_range+0xf6/0x160 hmm_range_fault+0x4f/0x90 amdgpu_hmm_range_get_pages+0x123/0x230 [amdgpu] amdgpu_ttm_tt_get_user_pages+0xb1/0x150 [amdgpu] init_user_pages+0xb1/0x2a0 [amdgpu] amdgpu_amdkfd_gpuvm_alloc_memory_of_gpu+0x543/0x7d0 [amdgpu] kfd_ioctl_alloc_memory_of_gpu+0x24c/0x4e0 [amdgpu] kfd_ioctl+0x29d/0x500 [amdgpu] (cherry picked from commit a29e067bd38946f752b0ef855f3dfff87e77bec7)

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-667

Shared resources are accessed without correct locking, so concurrent operations interleave into inconsistent — and sometimes exploitable — states, or deadlock the service outright. These bugs are subtle and timing-dependent. The fix is correct, consistent locking or atomic operations around every shared resource.

General guidance for the improper locking 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:>= 5.15.49, < 5.16>= 5.18.6, < 5.19>= 5.19.1, < 6.1.148>= 6.2, < 6.6.101>= 6.7, < 6.12.39>= 6.13, < 6.15.7= 5.19= 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 5.16 / 5.19 / 6.1.148 or later
Fixed in 5.165.196.1.148
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Kernel version 5.16+ (for 5.15.x), 5.19+ (for 5.18.x-5.19.x), 6.1.148+ (for 6.1.x), or 6.6.101+ (for 6.2.x-6.6.x)

  1. Upgrade Linux kernel to version 5.16 or later (if currently on 5.15.x with version >= 5.15.49)
  2. Upgrade Linux kernel to version 5.19 or later (if currently on 5.18.x or 5.19.x)
  3. Upgrade Linux kernel to version 6.1.148 or later (if currently on 6.1.x with version < 6.1.148)
  4. Upgrade Linux kernel to version 6.6.101 or later (if currently on 6.2.x through 6.6.x)
  5. After kernel upgrade, reboot the system to load the fixed kernel
  6. For Debian 11 (Bullseye), apply the Debian kernel security update that incorporates the fix or upgrade to a newer Debian release with the fixed kernel
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require driver recompilation or system restart; ensure amdgpu driver and amdkfd are compatible with the new kernel version

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-2025-38520 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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