CVE-2025-38373

Local system hang via mlx5 lock inversion

Published Jul 25, 2025 · Updated May 23, 2026

Improper locking in the Linux kernel's mlx5 InfiniBand driver allows local users to hang an affected system during MR deregistration. mlx5_ib_dereg_mr retains umem_mutex while a cache lookup can allocate memory and enter reclaim, whose notifier path calls mlx5_ib_invalidate_range and reacquires that mutex in the reverse lock order. Reachability requires local low-privileged access and an mlx5 InfiniBand memory-region workflow; the bounded consequence is a kernel deadlock and system hang.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.11%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
Coverage for this vulnerability

See if you're affected

Explore vulnerability checks for your environment with Hinoki.

Book a demo

Summary

What happened

Improper locking in the Linux kernel's mlx5 InfiniBand driver allows local users to hang an affected system during MR deregistration. mlx5_ib_dereg_mr retains umem_mutex while a cache lookup can allocate memory and enter reclaim, whose notifier path calls mlx5_ib_invalidate_range and reacquires that mutex in the reverse lock order. Reachability requires local low-privileged access and an mlx5 InfiniBand memory-region workflow; the bounded consequence is a kernel deadlock and system hang.

The record

CVE
CVE-2025-38373
Published
Jul 25, 2025
Updated
May 23, 2026
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
CWE-667
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jul 25, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. May 23, 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.

  1. Affected versionversion=5297f5ddffef47b94172ab0d3d62270002a3dcc1
  2. Affected versionversion=6.12.14 <6.12.37
  3. Affected versionversion=6.13.3 <6.14
  4. Affected versionversion=6.14
  5. Affected versionversion=abb604a1a9c87255c7a6f3b784410a9707baf467 <2ed25aa7f7711f508b6120e336f05cd9d49943c0
  6. Affected versionversion=abb604a1a9c87255c7a6f3b784410a9707baf467 <727eb1be65a370572edf307558ec3396b8573156
  7. Affected versionversion=b13d32786acabf70a7b04ed24b7468fc3c82977c <beb89ada5715e7bd1518c58863eedce89ec051a7

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=5297f5ddffef47b94172ab0d3d62270002a3dcc1; version=6.12.14 <6.12.37; version=6.13.3 <6.14; version=6.14; version=abb604a1a9c87255c7a6f3b784410a9707baf467 <2ed25aa7f7711f508b6120e336f05cd9d49943c0; version=abb604a1a9c87255c7a6f3b784410a9707baf467 <727eb1be65a370572edf307558ec3396b8573156; version=b13d32786acabf70a7b04ed24b7468fc3c82977c <beb89ada5715e7bd1518c58863eedce89ec051a7

Published CVSS scores

5.5CanonicalCVSS: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

CWE-667Improper Locking

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