Service interruption via mount namespace reference leak
Published Jul 9, 2025 · Updated May 11, 2026
Resource leak in Linux 6.15 through 6.15.4 and 6.16-rc1 through 6.16-rc3 allows local users to exhaust kernel resources. The open_tree_attr path omits finish_mount_kattr() after do_mount_setattr() fails, retaining a reference to mnt_userns and potentially mnt_idmap. A local low-privileged user must reach the syscall's mount-attribute path; repeated failures consume kernel resources until service is interrupted.
Summary
What happened
Resource leak in Linux 6.15 through 6.15.4 and 6.16-rc1 through 6.16-rc3 allows local users to exhaust kernel resources. The open_tree_attr path omits finish_mount_kattr() after do_mount_setattr() fails, retaining a reference to mnt_userns and potentially mnt_idmap. A local low-privileged user must reach the syscall's mount-attribute path; repeated failures consume kernel resources until service is interrupted.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-38247
- Published
- Jul 9, 2025
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jul 9, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 11, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.
Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=6.15
- Affected versionversion=c4a16820d90199409c9bf01c4f794e1e9e8d8fd8 <0748e553df0225754c316a92af3a77fdc057b358
- Affected versionversion=c4a16820d90199409c9bf01c4f794e1e9e8d8fd8 <142db4e76110dd80239f4e79810f85ea1735ad60
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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.
Weakness, pattern, technique
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
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
Check the software in your environment
Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.
Book a demo