CVE-2025-38549
BaseFortify
Publication date: 2025-08-16
Last updated on: 2025-11-18
Assigner: kernel.org
Description
Description
CVSS Scores
EPSS Scores
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Meta Information
Affected Vendors & Products
| Vendor | Product | Version / Range |
|---|---|---|
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.16 |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.16 |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.16 |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.16 |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.16 |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.16 |
| linux | linux_kernel | From 5.15.160 (inc) to 5.16 (inc) |
| linux | linux_kernel | From 5.15.160 (inc) to 5.16 (inc) |
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
| CWE ID | Description |
|---|---|
| CWE-401 | The product does not sufficiently track and release allocated memory after it has been used, making the memory unavailable for reallocation and reuse. |
Attack-Flow Graph
AI Powered Q&A
Can you explain this vulnerability to me?
This vulnerability is a memory leak in the Linux kernel's efivarfs filesystem. When mounting efivarfs, a structure called efivarfs_fs_info (sfi) is allocated early during initialization. Normally, this structure is freed when the filesystem's superblock is destroyed. However, if an error occurs before the superblock is fully set up, the sfi structure is not freed, causing a memory leak. The fix involves adding a callback to properly free the sfi if the initialization fails early, preventing the leak.
How can this vulnerability impact me? :
This vulnerability can cause a memory leak in the Linux kernel when mounting efivarfs, which may lead to increased memory usage and potentially degrade system performance or stability over time if the error condition occurs repeatedly.
What immediate steps should I take to mitigate this vulnerability?
To mitigate this vulnerability, update your Linux kernel to a version that includes the fix for the efivarfs memory leak. This fix ensures that efivarfs_fs_info is properly freed in error paths, preventing memory leaks. Until the update is applied, monitor system memory usage closely to detect potential leaks related to efivarfs.