CVE-2025-38089 | sunrpc: handle SVC_GARBAGE during svc auth processing as auth error

Exp

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: sunrpc: handle SVC_GARBAGE during svc auth processing as auth error tianshuo han reported a remotely-triggerable crash if the client sends a kernel RPC server a specially crafted packet. If decoding the RPC reply fails in such a way that SVC_GARBAGE is returned without setting the rq_accept_statp pointer, then that pointer can be dereferenced and a value stored there. If it's the first time the thread has processed an RPC, then that pointer will be set to NULL and the kernel will crash. In other cases, it could create a memory scribble. The server sunrpc code treats a SVC_GARBAGE return from svc_authenticate or pg_authenticate as if it should send a GARBAGE_ARGS reply. RFC 5531 says that if authentication fails that the RPC should be rejected instead with a status of AUTH_ERR. Handle a SVC_GARBAGE return as an AUTH_ERROR, with a reason of AUTH_BADCRED instead of returning GARBAGE_ARGS in that case. This sidesteps the whole problem of touching the rpc_accept_statp pointer in this situation and avoids the crash.

Published: 2025-06-30 Last update: 2025-11-19 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-38089 is rated Exploit Available (50/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.05%). Core evidence: 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Mandatory action: Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2025-38089

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2025-38089

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-04-26 0.04% 0.05% +0.01%
2 2025-11-20 0.27% 0.04% -0.23%
3 2025-10-30 0.27%

Full EPSS history (6 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-38089

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
1.8 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-38089

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-38089

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2025-38089 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-38089
redhat high https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38089
suse high CVE-2025-38089 severity important: SUSE including 557 source package names (2.1.3-6.67:kernel-default-base-6.4.0-32.1.21.10, 2.1.3-7.44:kernel-default-6.4.0-32.1, …), 1202 product×package rows across 217 product lines (Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/base-os-container, Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/kvm-os-container, … (217 product lines)): Fixed 721, Known Affected 231, Known Not Affected 229, First Fixed 21. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38089/
ubuntu medium CVE-2025-38089 medium priority: Ubuntu including 158 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1551 status rows across 10 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1145, ignored 164, released 138, not-affected 99, needed 2, needs-triage 2, pending 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-38089

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-38089

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 6.3.4, < 6.4 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.4.1, < 6.6.95 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.7, < 6.12.35 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.13, < 6.15.4 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.4 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.4:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.4 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.4:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.4 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.4:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.4 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.4:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.4 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.4:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.4 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.4:rc7:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.16 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.16:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.16 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.16:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2025-38089

cvelogic Threat Intelligence