CVE-2025-38374 [Medium] | Security Vulnerability in Linux Kernel

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: optee: ffa: fix sleep in atomic context The OP-TEE driver registers the function notif_callback() for FF-A notifications. However, this function is called in an atomic context leading to errors like this when processing asynchronous notifications: | BUG: sleeping function called from invalid context at kernel/locking/mutex.c:258 | in_atomic(): 1, irqs_disabled(): 1, non_block: 0, pid: 9, name: kworker/0:0 | preempt_count: 1, expected: 0 | RCU nest depth: 0, expected: 0 | CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 9 Comm: kworker/0:0 Not tainted 6.14.0-00019-g657536ebe0aa #13 | Hardware name: linux,dummy-virt (DT) | Workqueue: ffa_pcpu_irq_notification notif_pcpu_irq_work_fn | Call trace: | show_stack+0x18/0x24 (C) | dump_stack_lvl+0x78/0x90 | dump_stack+0x18/0x24 | __might_resched+0x114/0x170 | __might_sleep+0x48/0x98 | mutex_lock+0x24/0x80 | optee_get_msg_arg+0x7c/0x21c | simple_call_with_arg+0x50/0xc0 | optee_do_bottom_half+0x14/0x20 | notif_callback+0x3c/0x48 | handle_notif_callbacks+0x9c/0xe0 | notif_get_and_handle+0x40/0x88 | generic_exec_single+0x80/0xc0 | smp_call_function_single+0xfc/0x1a0 | notif_pcpu_irq_work_fn+0x2c/0x38 | process_one_work+0x14c/0x2b4 | worker_thread+0x2e4/0x3e0 | kthread+0x13c/0x210 | ret_from_fork+0x10/0x20 Fix this by adding work queue to process the notification in a non-atomic context.

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2025-07-26	—	0.02%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2025-07-26

—

0.02%

—

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]

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]

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-38374

vendor	priority	summary	link
`debian`	unimportant	CVE-2025-38374 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-2025-38374
`redhat`	—	—	https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38374
`suse`	medium	CVE-2025-38374 severity moderate: SUSE including 94 source package names (cluster-md-kmp-64kb-6.12.0-160000.6.1, cluster-md-kmp-default, …), 512 product×package rows across 91 product lines (Image SLES-Azure-3P, Image SLES-Azure-Basic, … (91 product lines)): Known Not Affected 314, Fixed 177, First Fixed 21.	https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38374/
`ubuntu`	medium	CVE-2025-38374 medium priority: Ubuntu including 158 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1414 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1017, ignored 155, released 138, not-affected 99, needed 2, needs-triage 2, pending 1.	https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-38374

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-38374

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
linux	linux_kernel	>= 6.8, < 6.12.37	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 6.13, < 6.15.6	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
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::::::
linux	linux_kernel	6.16	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.16:rc3::::::
linux	linux_kernel	6.16	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.16:rc4::::::

References for CVE-2025-38374

URL	Tags
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/312d02adb959ea199372f375ada06e0186f651e4	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5f28563f0c6862c99eb115c918421d9b73f137ad	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f27cf15783bd60063c6c97434cbd67ebd91d8db5	Patch

URL

CVE-2025-38374 | optee: ffa: fix sleep in atomic context

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2025-38374

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-38374

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-38374

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-38374

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-38374

References for CVE-2025-38374