CVE-2025-38393 | NFSv4/pNFS: Fix a race to wake on NFS_LAYOUT_DRAIN

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: NFSv4/pNFS: Fix a race to wake on NFS_LAYOUT_DRAIN We found a few different systems hung up in writeback waiting on the same page lock, and one task waiting on the NFS_LAYOUT_DRAIN bit in pnfs_update_layout(), however the pnfs_layout_hdr's plh_outstanding count was zero. It seems most likely that this is another race between the waiter and waker similar to commit ed0172af5d6f ("SUNRPC: Fix a race to wake a sync task"). Fix it up by applying the advised barrier.

Published: 2025-07-25 Last update: 2026-05-12 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-38393 is rated Low Risk (24.4/100): CVSS Medium 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-2025-38393

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 2026-05-21 0.04% 0.05% +0.01%
2 2025-12-21 0.06% 0.04% -0.02%
3 2025-11-24 0.06%

Full EPSS history (4 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-38393

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
4.7 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/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:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
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.
1.0 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-38393

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2025-38393

GHSA-93f5-rwwh-v8p5 · Severity: medium — In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: NFSv4/pNFS: Fix a race to...

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-38393

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2025-38393 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 2 source packages (linux, linux-6.1), 6 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 6. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-38393
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38393
suse medium CVE-2025-38393 severity moderate: SUSE including 522 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, …), 1044 product×package rows across 199 product lines (Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/base-os-container, Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/kvm-os-container, … (199 product lines)): Fixed 674, Known Affected 231, Known Not Affected 118, First Fixed 21. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38393/
ubuntu medium CVE-2025-38393 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, released 170, ignored 155, not-affected 66, needed 3, needs-triage 2, pending 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-38393

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-38393

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 5.10.124, < 5.10.240 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.15.49, < 5.15.187 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.18.6, < 5.19 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.19.1, < 6.1.144 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.2, < 6.6.97 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.7, < 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 5.19 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.19:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.19 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.19:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.19 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.19:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.19 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.19:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.19 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.19:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.19 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.19:rc7:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.19 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.19:rc8:*:*:*:*:*:*
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:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 11.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2025-38393

URL Tags
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/08287df60bac5b008b6bcdb03053988335d3d282 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1f4da20080718f258e189a2c5f515385fa393da6 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/864a54c1243ed3ca60baa4bc492dede1361f4c83 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8846fd02c98da8b79e6343a20e6071be6f372180 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8ca65fa71024a1767a59ffbc6a6e2278af84735e Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c01776287414ca43412d1319d2877cbad65444ac Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e4b13885e7ef1e64e45268feef1e5f0707c47e72 Patch
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/10/msg00007.html Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/10/msg00008.html Third Party Advisory
https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-082556.html
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