Local privilege escalation via DMA-error double free
Published Jul 10, 2025 · Updated Aug 5, 2026
Double-free in the Linux fbnic firmware mailbox driver from 6.11 allows local users to corrupt kernel memory via repeated sensor reads. The fbnic_mbx_map_msg() error path frees a firmware-message page after dma_map_single() fails, although callers retain ownership and free it again. Exploitation requires an fbnic device and induced DMA-mapping pressure; allocator corruption enables data access, privilege escalation, or a kernel crash.
Summary
What happened
Double-free in the Linux fbnic firmware mailbox driver from 6.11 allows local users to corrupt kernel memory via repeated sensor reads. The fbnic_mbx_map_msg() error path frees a firmware-message page after dma_map_single() fails, although callers retain ownership and free it again. Exploitation requires an fbnic device and induced DMA-mapping pressure; allocator corruption enables data access, privilege escalation, or a kernel crash.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-38341
- Published
- Jul 10, 2025
- Updated
- Aug 5, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jul 10, 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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- Affected versionversion=6.11
- Affected versionversion=da3cde08209ec1c915195c2331c275397f34a731 <0a211e23852019ef55c70094524e87a944accbb5
- Affected versionversion=da3cde08209ec1c915195c2331c275397f34a731 <5bd1bafd4474ee26f504b41aba11f3e2a1175b88
- Affected versionversion=da3cde08209ec1c915195c2331c275397f34a731 <670179265ad787b9dd8e701601914618b8927755
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What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
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Technologies
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