CVE-2025-38563

Service interruption via perf mapping reference leaks

Published Aug 19, 2025 · Updated May 11, 2026

Resource-management error in the Linux kernel allows local users to interrupt service via crafted perf buffer mapping operations. In kernel/events/core.c, perf_mmap_open() increments ring-buffer or auxiliary-buffer references after a VMA split, but perf_mmap_close() rejects the changed offset or size and does not release them. Exploitation requires local access to create a perf mapping and resize or partially unmap it, causing reference counts to leak and kernel resources to remain held.

CVSS severity7.3
High
EPSS probability0.39%
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

Resource-management error in the Linux kernel allows local users to interrupt service via crafted perf buffer mapping operations. In kernel/events/core.c, perf_mmap_open() increments ring-buffer or auxiliary-buffer references after a VMA split, but perf_mmap_close() rejects the changed offset or size and does not release them. Exploitation requires local access to create a perf mapping and resize or partially unmap it, causing reference counts to leak and kernel resources to remain held.

The record

CVE
CVE-2025-38563
Published
Aug 19, 2025
Updated
May 11, 2026
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
Unavailable
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Aug 19, 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

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=4.1
  2. Affected versionversion=45bfb2e50471abbbfd83d40d28c986078b0d24ff <3bd518cc7ea61076bcd725e36ff0e690754977c0
  3. Affected versionversion=45bfb2e50471abbbfd83d40d28c986078b0d24ff <65311aad4c808bedad0c05d9bb8b06c47dae73eb
  4. Affected versionversion=45bfb2e50471abbbfd83d40d28c986078b0d24ff <6757a31a8e295ae4f01717a954afda173f25a121
  5. Affected versionversion=45bfb2e50471abbbfd83d40d28c986078b0d24ff <7b84cb58d1f0aa07656802eae24689566e5f5b1b
  6. Affected versionversion=45bfb2e50471abbbfd83d40d28c986078b0d24ff <b024d7b56c77191cde544f838debb7f8451cd0d6
  7. Affected versionversion=45bfb2e50471abbbfd83d40d28c986078b0d24ff <d52451a9210f2e5a079ba052918c93563518a9ff
  8. Affected versionversion=45bfb2e50471abbbfd83d40d28c986078b0d24ff <e4346ffec2c44d6b0be834d59b20632b5bb5729e
  9. Affected versionversion=45bfb2e50471abbbfd83d40d28c986078b0d24ff <e529888b7e8092912dd8789bdfc76685ccd2ff5f
  10. Affected versionversion=45bfb2e50471abbbfd83d40d28c986078b0d24ff <ff668930871e0198c7f4e325058b8b7c286787bd

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=4.1; version=45bfb2e50471abbbfd83d40d28c986078b0d24ff <3bd518cc7ea61076bcd725e36ff0e690754977c0; version=45bfb2e50471abbbfd83d40d28c986078b0d24ff <65311aad4c808bedad0c05d9bb8b06c47dae73eb; version=45bfb2e50471abbbfd83d40d28c986078b0d24ff <6757a31a8e295ae4f01717a954afda173f25a121; version=45bfb2e50471abbbfd83d40d28c986078b0d24ff <7b84cb58d1f0aa07656802eae24689566e5f5b1b; version=45bfb2e50471abbbfd83d40d28c986078b0d24ff <b024d7b56c77191cde544f838debb7f8451cd0d6; version=45bfb2e50471abbbfd83d40d28c986078b0d24ff <d52451a9210f2e5a079ba052918c93563518a9ff; version=45bfb2e50471abbbfd83d40d28c986078b0d24ff <e4346ffec2c44d6b0be834d59b20632b5bb5729e; version=45bfb2e50471abbbfd83d40d28c986078b0d24ff <e529888b7e8092912dd8789bdfc76685ccd2ff5f; version=45bfb2e50471abbbfd83d40d28c986078b0d24ff <ff668930871e0198c7f4e325058b8b7c286787bd

Published CVSS scores

7.3UbuntuCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:H/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
7.8UbuntuCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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 9, 2026Sep 15, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 15, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

No sourced classifications are available.

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