CVE-2025-38084

Local service interruption via premature page-table unsharing

Published Jun 28, 2025 · Updated Aug 5, 2026

A race condition in the Linux hugetlb subsystem allows local users to interrupt service through a race during VMA splitting. __split_vma() calls hugetlb page-table unsharing through vm_ops->may_split() before taking the VMA and reverse-mapping write locks, so racing faults or rmap walks can reshare the tables before the split. Exploitation requires low-privileged local access and a hugetlb-backed mapping; the published assessment limits the consequence to availability loss.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.17%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

A race condition in the Linux hugetlb subsystem allows local users to interrupt service through a race during VMA splitting. __split_vma() calls hugetlb page-table unsharing through vm_ops->may_split() before taking the VMA and reverse-mapping write locks, so racing faults or rmap walks can reshare the tables before the split. Exploitation requires low-privileged local access and a hugetlb-backed mapping; the published assessment limits the consequence to availability loss.

The record

CVE
CVE-2025-38084
Published
Jun 28, 2025
Updated
Aug 5, 2026
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
T1499.004
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jun 28, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. 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?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=2.6.20
  2. Affected versionversion=39dde65c9940c97fcd178a3d2b1c57ed8b7b68aa <081056dc00a27bccb55ccc3c6f230a3d5fd3f7e0
  3. Affected versionversion=39dde65c9940c97fcd178a3d2b1c57ed8b7b68aa <2511ac64bc1617ca716d3ba8464e481a647c1902
  4. Affected versionversion=39dde65c9940c97fcd178a3d2b1c57ed8b7b68aa <366298f2b04d2bf1f2f2b7078405bdf9df9bd5d0
  5. Affected versionversion=39dde65c9940c97fcd178a3d2b1c57ed8b7b68aa <8a21d5584826f4880f45bbf8f72375f4e6c0ff2a
  6. Affected versionversion=39dde65c9940c97fcd178a3d2b1c57ed8b7b68aa <9cf5b2a3b72c23fb7b84736d5d19ee6ea718762b
  7. Affected versionversion=39dde65c9940c97fcd178a3d2b1c57ed8b7b68aa <af6cfcd0efb7f051af221c418ec8b37a10211947
  8. Affected versionversion=39dde65c9940c97fcd178a3d2b1c57ed8b7b68aa <e8847d18cd9fff1edbb45e963d9141273c3b539c

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=2.6.20; version=39dde65c9940c97fcd178a3d2b1c57ed8b7b68aa <081056dc00a27bccb55ccc3c6f230a3d5fd3f7e0; version=39dde65c9940c97fcd178a3d2b1c57ed8b7b68aa <2511ac64bc1617ca716d3ba8464e481a647c1902; version=39dde65c9940c97fcd178a3d2b1c57ed8b7b68aa <366298f2b04d2bf1f2f2b7078405bdf9df9bd5d0; version=39dde65c9940c97fcd178a3d2b1c57ed8b7b68aa <8a21d5584826f4880f45bbf8f72375f4e6c0ff2a; version=39dde65c9940c97fcd178a3d2b1c57ed8b7b68aa <9cf5b2a3b72c23fb7b84736d5d19ee6ea718762b; version=39dde65c9940c97fcd178a3d2b1c57ed8b7b68aa <af6cfcd0efb7f051af221c418ec8b37a10211947; version=39dde65c9940c97fcd178a3d2b1c57ed8b7b68aa <e8847d18cd9fff1edbb45e963d9141273c3b539c

Published CVSS scores

5.5NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
7.0Amazon LinuxCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

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No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

T1499.004Application or System Exploitation

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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