CVE-2025-38238

System crash via reused FDMI abort frame

Published Jul 9, 2025 · Updated Aug 5, 2026

A double-free in the Linux kernel fnic driver in 6.14 through 6.15.4 allows local users to crash the system via FDMI timeouts. When RHBA and RPA requests both time out, fnic reuses one frame for both ABTS operations, and fnic_wq_cmpl_handler frees that frame twice as completions arrive. Reachability requires the Cisco FCoE HBA driver and both FDMI timeout paths; the documented consequence is a system crash.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.18%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

A double-free in the Linux kernel fnic driver in 6.14 through 6.15.4 allows local users to crash the system via FDMI timeouts. When RHBA and RPA requests both time out, fnic reuses one frame for both ABTS operations, and fnic_wq_cmpl_handler frees that frame twice as completions arrive. Reachability requires the Cisco FCoE HBA driver and both FDMI timeout paths; the documented consequence is a system crash.

The record

CVE
CVE-2025-38238
Published
Jul 9, 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. Jul 9, 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=09c1e6ab4ab2a107d96f119950dc330e446dc2b0 <09679e9abedfbc5a2590759a1a7893c1c26e6044
  2. Affected versionversion=09c1e6ab4ab2a107d96f119950dc330e446dc2b0 <a35b29bdedb4d2ae3160d4d6684a6f1ecd9ca7c2
  3. Affected versionversion=6.14

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=09c1e6ab4ab2a107d96f119950dc330e446dc2b0 <09679e9abedfbc5a2590759a1a7893c1c26e6044; version=09c1e6ab4ab2a107d96f119950dc330e446dc2b0 <a35b29bdedb4d2ae3160d4d6684a6f1ecd9ca7c2; version=6.14

Published CVSS scores

5.5NISTCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

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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