In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tracing: Add down_write(trace_event_sem) when adding trace event When a module is loaded, it adds trace events defined by the module. It may also need to modify the modules trace printk formats to replace enum names with their values. If two modules are loaded at the same time, the adding of the event to the ftrace_events list can corrupt the walking of the list in the code that is modifying the printk format strings and crash the kernel. The addition of the event should take the trace_event_sem for write while it adds the new event. Also add a lockdep_assert_held() on that semaphore in __trace_add_event_dirs() as it iterates the list.
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-38539 is rated Low Risk (23.7/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.02%). 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.
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 | 2026-01-08 | 0.06% | 0.02% | -0.04% |
| 2 | 2025-11-04 | 0.02% | 0.06% | +0.04% |
| 3 | 2025-08-16 | — | 0.02% | — |
Full EPSS history (3 records total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5.5 | 3.1 | MEDIUM |
|
1.8 | 3.6 | [email protected] |
| vendor | priority | summary | link |
|---|---|---|---|
debian
|
not yet assigned | CVE-2025-38539 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-2025-38539 |
redhat
|
medium | — | https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38539 |
suse
|
medium | — | https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38539/ |
ubuntu
|
medium | CVE-2025-38539 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 165, released 165, needed 45, not-affected 18, needs-triage 2, pending 2. | https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-38539 |
| Vendor | Product | Version | Raw CPE |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux | linux_kernel | >= 2.6.31, < 5.4.297 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | >= 5.5, < 5.10.241 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | >= 5.11, < 5.15.190 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | >= 5.16, < 6.1.147 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | >= 6.2, < 6.6.100 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | >= 6.7, < 6.12.40 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | >= 6.13, < 6.15.8 | 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:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.16 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.16:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.16 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.16:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| debian | debian_linux | 11.0 | cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |