Local privilege escalation via mountpoint lifetime races
Published May 20, 2025 · Updated Aug 5, 2026
Race condition in the Linux kernel allows local users to gain kernel privileges by racing MNT_TREE_BENEATH mount operations. In do_lock_mount, the code releases mount_lock without jointly retaining the parent mount and dentry, allowing concurrent move or unmount activity to tear down the filesystem before inode_lock uses those objects; unlock_mount also releases the dentry pin too early. An ordinary local user can obtain the required namespace-scoped capability and retry the race, producing use-after-free primitives for kernel-memory access and control-flow hijacking or causing a kernel panic.
Summary
What happened
Race condition in the Linux kernel allows local users to gain kernel privileges by racing MNT_TREE_BENEATH mount operations. In do_lock_mount, the code releases mount_lock without jointly retaining the parent mount and dentry, allowing concurrent move or unmount activity to tear down the filesystem before inode_lock uses those objects; unlock_mount also releases the dentry pin too early. An ordinary local user can obtain the required namespace-scoped capability and retry the race, producing use-after-free primitives for kernel-memory access and control-flow hijacking or causing a kernel panic.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-37988
- Published
- May 20, 2025
- Updated
- Aug 5, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 20, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 5, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
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- Affected versionversion=6.5
- Affected versionversion=6ac392815628f317fcfdca1a39df00b9cc4ebc8b <0d039eac6e5950f9d1ecc9e410c2fd1feaeab3b6
- Affected versionversion=6ac392815628f317fcfdca1a39df00b9cc4ebc8b <4f435c1f4c48ff84968e2d9159f6fa41f46cf998
- Affected versionversion=6ac392815628f317fcfdca1a39df00b9cc4ebc8b <a61afd54826ac24c2c93845c4f441dbc344875b1
- Affected versionversion=6ac392815628f317fcfdca1a39df00b9cc4ebc8b <d4b21e8cd3d7efa2deb9cff534f0133e84f35086
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
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Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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