CVE-2025-38681: debian linux — Fix

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/ptdump: take the memory hotplug lock inside ptdump_walk_pgd() Memory hot remove unmaps and tears down various kernel page table regions as required. The ptdump code can race with concurrent modifications of the kernel page tables. When leaf entries are modified concurrently, the dump code may log stale or inconsistent information for a VA range, but this is otherwise not harmful. But when intermediate levels of kernel page table are freed, the dump code will continue to use memory that has been freed and potentially reallocated for another purpose. In such cases, the ptdump code may dereference bogus addresses, leading to a number of potential problems. To avoid the above mentioned race condition, platforms such as arm64, riscv and s390 take memory hotplug lock, while dumping kernel page table via the sysfs interface /sys/kernel/debug/kernel_page_tables. Similar race condition exists while checking for pages that might have been marked W+X via /sys/kernel/debug/kernel_page_tables/check_wx_pages which in turn calls ptdump_check_wx(). Instead of solving this race condition again, let's just move the memory hotplug lock inside generic ptdump_check_wx() which will benefit both the scenarios. Drop get_online_mems() and put_online_mems() combination from all existing platform ptdump code paths.

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CVSS v3.1 Score

4.7

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Weakness Type (CWE)

CWE-362 CWE-362

Affected Products

Vendor	Product	Versions
linux	linux_kernel	5.7 — 5.10.241
linux	linux_kernel	5.11 — 5.15.190
linux	linux_kernel	5.16 — 6.1.149
linux	linux_kernel	6.2 — 6.6.103
linux	linux_kernel	6.7 — 6.12.43
linux	linux_kernel	6.13 — 6.15.11
linux	linux_kernel	6.16 — 6.16.2
debian	debian_linux	All

References

Advisories & Patches

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1636b5e9c3543b87d673e32a47e7c18698882425 https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3ee9a8c27bfd72c3f465004fa8455785d61be5e8 https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/59305202c67fea50378dcad0cc199dbc13a0e99a https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/67995d4244694928ce701928e530b5b4adeb17b4 https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/69bea84b06b5e779627e7afdbf4b60a7d231c76f https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ac25ec5fa2bf6e606dc7954488e4dded272fa9cd https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ca8c414499f2e5337a95a76be0d21b728ee31c6b https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ff40839e018b82c4d756d035f34a63aa2d93be83

Other References

https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/10/msg00007.html https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/10/msg00008.html https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-032379.html

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2025-38681? +

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/ptdump: take the memory hotplug lock inside ptdump_walk_pgd() Memory hot remove unmaps and tears down various kernel page table regions as required. The ptdump code can race with concurrent modifications of the kernel page tables. When leaf entries are modified concurrently, the dump code may log stale or inconsistent information for a VA range, but this is otherwise not harmful. But when intermediate levels of kernel page table are freed, the dump code will continue to use memory that has been freed and potentially reallocated for another purpose. In such cases, the ptdump code may dereference bogus addresses, leading to a number of potential problems. To avoid the above mentioned race condition, platforms such as arm64, riscv and s390 take memory hotplug lock, while dumping kernel page table via the sysfs interface /sys/kernel/debug/kernel_page_tables. Similar race condition exists while checking for pages that might have been marked W+X via /sys/kernel/debug/kernel_page_tables/check_wx_pages which in turn calls ptdump_check_wx(). Instead of solving this race condition again, let's just move the memory hotplug lock inside generic ptdump_check_wx() which will benefit both the scenarios. Drop get_online_mems() and put_online_mems() combination from all existing platform ptdump code paths. It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 4.7 (MEDIUM).

How severe is CVE-2025-38681? +

CVE-2025-38681 has a CVSS v3.1 score of 4.7 out of 10, rated MEDIUM. This is a medium-severity vulnerability that should be remediated as part of regular maintenance.

What products are affected by CVE-2025-38681? +

CVE-2025-38681 affects products from debian, linux, specifically: debian_linux, linux_kernel. Check the affected products table above for specific version ranges.

How do I check if I'm vulnerable to CVE-2025-38681? +

You can use Secably's free Website Scanner to check your website for known vulnerabilities. For infrastructure scanning, use the Port Scanner to identify exposed services that may be affected. Check the vendor advisories linked above for specific patch and version information.

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