CVE-2025-38282 — linux / linux_kernel
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
kernfs: Relax constraint in draining guard
The active reference lifecycle provides the break/unbreak mechanism but the active reference is not truly active after unbreak -- callers don't use it afterwards but it's important for proper pairing of kn->active counting. Assuming this mechanism is in place, the WARN check in kernfs_should_drain_open_files() is too sensitive -- it may transiently catch those (rightful) callers between kernfs_unbreak_active_protection() and kernfs_put_active() as found out by Chen Ridong:
kernfs_remove_by_name_ns kernfs_get_active // active=1
__kernfs_remove // active=0x80000002
kernfs_drain ...
wait_event
//waiting (active == 0x80000001)
kernfs_break_active_protection
// active = 0x80000001
// continue
kernfs_unbreak_active_protection
// active = 0x80000002
...
kernfs_should_drain_open_files
// warning occurs
kernfs_put_active
To avoid the false positives (mind panic_on_warn) remove the check altogether. (This is meant as quick fix, I think active reference break/unbreak may be simplified with larger rework.)
| Software | From | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| linux / linux_kernel | 6.1 | 6.1.142 |
| linux / linux_kernel | 6.2 | 6.6.94 |
| linux / linux_kernel | 6.7 | 6.12.34 |
| linux / linux_kernel | 6.13 | 6.15.3 |
| debian / debian_linux | 11.0 | 11.0.x |
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/071d8e4c2a3b0999a9b822e2eb8854784a350f8a
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2d6a67c2b3b87808a347dc1047b520a9dd177a4f
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6bfb154f95d5f0ab7ed056f23aba8c1a94cb3927
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6c81f1c7812c61f187bed1b938f1d2e391d503ab
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/72275c888f8962b406ee9c6885c79bf68cca5a63
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/10/msg00008.html
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