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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2025-38596

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-08-19
Patch available
A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.
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: drm/panthor: Fix UAF in panthor_gem_create_with_handle() debugfs code The object is potentially already gone after the drm_gem_object_put(). In general the object should be fully constructed before calling drm_gem_handle_create(), except the debugfs tracking uses a separate lock and list and separate flag to denotate whether the object is actually initialized. Since I'm touching this all anyway simplify this by only adding the object to the debugfs when it's ready for that, which allows us to delete that separate flag. panthor_gem_debugfs_bo_rm() already checks whether we've actually been added to the list or this is some error path cleanup. v2: Fix build issues for !CONFIG_DEBUGFS (Adrián) v3: Add linebreak and remove outdated comment (Liviu)

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:= 6.16

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
Patch available Apply the vendor patch
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Linux Kernel 6.16.1 or later stable release

  1. 1. Identify the current kernel version running on affected systems using `uname -r`
  2. 2. Check if the system is running Linux Kernel 6.16
  3. 3. Upgrade the Linux kernel to version 6.16.1 or later stable release that includes the fix commit 5f2be12442db6a2904e6e31b0e3b5ad5aebf868b
  4. 4. Update boot loader configuration if necessary to select the new kernel
  5. 5. Reboot the system into the updated kernel
  6. 6. Verify the fix is applied by checking the kernel version with `uname -r` and confirming the panthor driver loads without UAF errors in dmesg
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require reboot and could have compatibility impacts with user-space tools or modules compiled against the old kernel

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

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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-2025-38596 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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