Kernel oops via uninitialized CIFS folio buffer
Published Sep 5, 2025 · Updated Sep 5, 2025
Use of an uninitialized variable in the CIFS client in affected Linux kernels allows local users to crash the kernel during request setup. smb3_init_transform_rq() passes an undefined buffer value to netfs_alloc_folioq_buffer(), which assumes it can append instead of starting a fresh buffer from NULL. Reachability requires local access to initiate the affected CIFS request path; the documented consequence is a kernel oops and service interruption.
Summary
What happened
Use of an uninitialized variable in the CIFS client in affected Linux kernels allows local users to crash the kernel during request setup. smb3_init_transform_rq() passes an undefined buffer value to netfs_alloc_folioq_buffer(), which assumes it can append instead of starting a fresh buffer from NULL. Reachability requires local access to initiate the affected CIFS request path; the documented consequence is a kernel oops and service interruption.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-38737
- Published
- Sep 5, 2025
- Updated
- Sep 5, 2025
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-908, T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 5, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Sep 5, 2025Record 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.
- Affected versionversion=6.12
- Affected versionversion=a2906d3316fc19bf0ade84618bb73eab604c447e <453a6d2a68e54a483d67233c6e1e24c4095ee4be
- Affected versionversion=a2906d3316fc19bf0ade84618bb73eab604c447e <4931fe2dbe1cc0e7d350a4b51b0b330e43971d98
- Affected versionversion=a2906d3316fc19bf0ade84618bb73eab604c447e <6adaa9fae36f848afa7278945d725e197e33c496
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
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.
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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