CVE-2025-38106 | io_uring: fix use-after-free of sq->thread in __io_uring_show_fdinfo()

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: io_uring: fix use-after-free of sq->thread in __io_uring_show_fdinfo() syzbot reports: BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in getrusage+0x1109/0x1a60 Read of size 8 at addr ffff88810de2d2c8 by task a.out/304 CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 304 Comm: a.out Not tainted 6.16.0-rc1 #1 PREEMPT(voluntary) Hardware name: QEMU Ubuntu 24.04 PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.16.3-debian-1.16.3-2 04/01/2014 Call Trace: <TASK> dump_stack_lvl+0x53/0x70 print_report+0xd0/0x670 ? __pfx__raw_spin_lock_irqsave+0x10/0x10 ? getrusage+0x1109/0x1a60 kasan_report+0xce/0x100 ? getrusage+0x1109/0x1a60 getrusage+0x1109/0x1a60 ? __pfx_getrusage+0x10/0x10 __io_uring_show_fdinfo+0x9fe/0x1790 ? ksys_read+0xf7/0x1c0 ? do_syscall_64+0xa4/0x260 ? vsnprintf+0x591/0x1100 ? __pfx___io_uring_show_fdinfo+0x10/0x10 ? __pfx_vsnprintf+0x10/0x10 ? mutex_trylock+0xcf/0x130 ? __pfx_mutex_trylock+0x10/0x10 ? __pfx_show_fd_locks+0x10/0x10 ? io_uring_show_fdinfo+0x57/0x80 io_uring_show_fdinfo+0x57/0x80 seq_show+0x38c/0x690 seq_read_iter+0x3f7/0x1180 ? inode_set_ctime_current+0x160/0x4b0 seq_read+0x271/0x3e0 ? __pfx_seq_read+0x10/0x10 ? __pfx__raw_spin_lock+0x10/0x10 ? __mark_inode_dirty+0x402/0x810 ? selinux_file_permission+0x368/0x500 ? file_update_time+0x10f/0x160 vfs_read+0x177/0xa40 ? __pfx___handle_mm_fault+0x10/0x10 ? __pfx_vfs_read+0x10/0x10 ? mutex_lock+0x81/0xe0 ? __pfx_mutex_lock+0x10/0x10 ? fdget_pos+0x24d/0x4b0 ksys_read+0xf7/0x1c0 ? __pfx_ksys_read+0x10/0x10 ? do_user_addr_fault+0x43b/0x9c0 do_syscall_64+0xa4/0x260 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f RIP: 0033:0x7f0f74170fc9 Code: 00 c3 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 0f 1f 44 00 00 48 89 f8 48 89 f7 48 89 d6 48 89 ca 4d 89 c2 4d 89 c8 4c 8b 4c 24 08 0f 05 <48> 3d 01 f0 ff ff 73 01 c3 48 8b 8 RSP: 002b:00007fffece049e8 EFLAGS: 00000206 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000000 RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: 00007f0f74170fc9 RDX: 0000000000001000 RSI: 00007fffece049f0 RDI: 0000000000000004 RBP: 00007fffece05ad0 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 00007fffece04d90 R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000206 R12: 00005651720a1100 R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: 0000000000000000 </TASK> Allocated by task 298: kasan_save_stack+0x33/0x60 kasan_save_track+0x14/0x30 __kasan_slab_alloc+0x6e/0x70 kmem_cache_alloc_node_noprof+0xe8/0x330 copy_process+0x376/0x5e00 create_io_thread+0xab/0xf0 io_sq_offload_create+0x9ed/0xf20 io_uring_setup+0x12b0/0x1cc0 do_syscall_64+0xa4/0x260 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f Freed by task 22: kasan_save_stack+0x33/0x60 kasan_save_track+0x14/0x30 kasan_save_free_info+0x3b/0x60 __kasan_slab_free+0x37/0x50 kmem_cache_free+0xc4/0x360 rcu_core+0x5ff/0x19f0 handle_softirqs+0x18c/0x530 run_ksoftirqd+0x20/0x30 smpboot_thread_fn+0x287/0x6c0 kthread+0x30d/0x630 ret_from_fork+0xef/0x1a0 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 Last potentially related work creation: kasan_save_stack+0x33/0x60 kasan_record_aux_stack+0x8c/0xa0 __call_rcu_common.constprop.0+0x68/0x940 __schedule+0xff2/0x2930 __cond_resched+0x4c/0x80 mutex_lock+0x5c/0xe0 io_uring_del_tctx_node+0xe1/0x2b0 io_uring_clean_tctx+0xb7/0x160 io_uring_cancel_generic+0x34e/0x760 do_exit+0x240/0x2350 do_group_exit+0xab/0x220 __x64_sys_exit_group+0x39/0x40 x64_sys_call+0x1243/0x1840 do_syscall_64+0xa4/0x260 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f The buggy address belongs to the object at ffff88810de2cb00 which belongs to the cache task_struct of size 3712 The buggy address is located 1992 bytes inside of freed 3712-byte region [ffff88810de2cb00, ffff88810de2d980) which is caused by the task_struct pointed to by sq->thread being released while it is being used in the function __io_uring_show_fdinfo(). Holding ctx->uring_lock does not prevent ehre relase or exit of sq->thread. Fix this by assigning and looking up ->thread under RCU, and grabbing a reference to the task_struct. This e ---truncated---

Published: 2025-07-03 Last update: 2025-11-20 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-38106 is rated Low Risk (36.8/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.05%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2025-38106

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 2026-04-29 0.02% 0.05% +0.03%
2 2025-07-03 0.02%

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-38106

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
1.8 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-38106

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-38106

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2025-38106 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-2025-38106
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38106
suse medium CVE-2025-38106 severity moderate: SUSE including 399 source package names (amazon/suse-sles-15-sp1-chost-byos-v20210304-hvm-ssd-x86_64, amazon/suse-sles-15-sp1-chost-byos-v20220127-hvm-ssd-x86_64, …), 892 product×package rows across 134 product lines (Image SLES-Azure-3P, Image SLES-Azure-Basic, … (134 product lines)): Fixed 352, Known Not Affected 288, Known Affected 231, First Fixed 21. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38106/
ubuntu medium CVE-2025-38106 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 162, not-affected 135, released 107, needs-triage 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-38106

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-38106

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 6.9, < 6.12.34 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.13, < 6.15.3 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.16 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.16:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2025-38106

cvelogic Threat Intelligence