CVE-2025-38241

Local denial of service via swap-in retry loop

Published Jul 9, 2025 · Updated May 11, 2026

Improper locking in Linux kernel 6.14 through 6.15.4 and 6.16-rc1 through 6.16-rc3 allows local users to cause a soft lockup. In the shmem mTHP swap-in path, an order-0 folio already in the swap cache makes swapcache_prepare return EEXIST, but shmem_swap_alloc_folio retries indefinitely. Exploitation requires local workload execution plus enabled 64 kB mTHP, active swap, and memory pressure, and it can leave a CPU unresponsive for hundreds of seconds.

CVSS severity6.8
Medium
EPSS probability0.10%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Improper locking in Linux kernel 6.14 through 6.15.4 and 6.16-rc1 through 6.16-rc3 allows local users to cause a soft lockup. In the shmem mTHP swap-in path, an order-0 folio already in the swap cache makes swapcache_prepare return EEXIST, but shmem_swap_alloc_folio retries indefinitely. Exploitation requires local workload execution plus enabled 64 kB mTHP, active swap, and memory pressure, and it can leave a CPU unresponsive for hundreds of seconds.

The record

CVE
CVE-2025-38241
Published
Jul 9, 2025
Updated
May 11, 2026
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
CWE-667, T1499.004
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jul 9, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. May 11, 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=1dd44c0af4fa1e80a4e82faa10cbf5d22da40362 <1283dfc1e0cd52cf525c2cb1b59a6f9183aab7ca
  2. Affected versionversion=1dd44c0af4fa1e80a4e82faa10cbf5d22da40362 <a05dd8ae5cbb1cb45f349922cfea4f548a5e5d6f
  3. Affected versionversion=6.14

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=1dd44c0af4fa1e80a4e82faa10cbf5d22da40362 <1283dfc1e0cd52cf525c2cb1b59a6f9183aab7ca; version=1dd44c0af4fa1e80a4e82faa10cbf5d22da40362 <a05dd8ae5cbb1cb45f349922cfea4f548a5e5d6f; version=6.14

Published CVSS scores

6.8UbuntuCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
5.5UbuntuCVSS: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.

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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

CWE-667Improper Locking
T1499.004Application or System Exploitation

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

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Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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