Kernel crash via ftrace buffer-consumption race
Published Sep 16, 2025 · Updated Sep 16, 2025
Race condition in Linux kernel ftrace allows attackers to crash a panic-on-warning system by racing a trace dump with a trace_pipe read. In ftrace_dump_one(), another reader can empty the ring buffer after trace_empty() succeeds, leaving iter.seq reset and unpopulated before trace_printk_seq() checks equal zero lengths. The demonstrated path requires administrative access to /proc/sysrq-trigger and a concurrent trace_pipe reader; without panic_on_warn, it emits a one-time warning rather than crashing.
Summary
What happened
Race condition in Linux kernel ftrace allows attackers to crash a panic-on-warning system by racing a trace dump with a trace_pipe read. In ftrace_dump_one(), another reader can empty the ring buffer after trace_empty() succeeds, leaving iter.seq reset and unpopulated before trace_printk_seq() checks equal zero lengths. The demonstrated path requires administrative access to /proc/sysrq-trigger and a concurrent trace_pipe reader; without panic_on_warn, it emits a one-time warning rather than crashing.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-39813
- Published
- Sep 16, 2025
- Updated
- Sep 16, 2025
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-362, T1499.004
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- admin
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 16, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Sep 16, 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=2.6.28
- Affected versionversion=d769041f865330034131525ee6a7f72eb4af2a24 <28c8fb7ae2ad27d81c8de3c4fe608c509f6a18aa
- Affected versionversion=d769041f865330034131525ee6a7f72eb4af2a24 <4013aef2ced9b756a410f50d12df9ebe6a883e4a
- Affected versionversion=d769041f865330034131525ee6a7f72eb4af2a24 <5ab0ec206deb99eb3baf8f1d7602aeaa91dbcc85
- Affected versionversion=d769041f865330034131525ee6a7f72eb4af2a24 <a6f0f8873cc30fd4543b09adf03f7f51d293f0e6
- Affected versionversion=d769041f865330034131525ee6a7f72eb4af2a24 <ced94e137e6cd5e79c65564841d3b7695d0f5fa3
- Affected versionversion=d769041f865330034131525ee6a7f72eb4af2a24 <e80ff23ba8bdb0f41a1afe2657078e4097d13a9a
- Affected versionversion=d769041f865330034131525ee6a7f72eb4af2a24 <f299353e7ccbcc5c2ed8993c48fbe7609cbe729a
- Affected versionversion=d769041f865330034131525ee6a7f72eb4af2a24 <fbd4cf7ee4db65ef36796769fe978e9eba6f0de4
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
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Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
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