NFSD: fix race between nfsd registration and exports_proc
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 5 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: NFSD: fix race between nfsd registration and exports_proc As of now nfsd calls create_proc_exports_entry() at start of init_nfsd and cleanup by remove_proc_entry() at last of exit_nfsd. Which causes kernel OOPs if there is race between below 2 operations: (i) exportfs -r (ii) mount -t nfsd none /proc/fs/nfsd for 5.4 kernel ARM64: CPU 1: el1_irq+0xbc/0x180 arch_counter_get_cntvct+0x14/0x18 running_clock+0xc/0x18 preempt_count_add+0x88/0x110 prep_new_page+0xb0/0x220 get_page_from_freelist+0x2d8/0x1778 __alloc_pages_nodemask+0x15c/0xef0 __vmalloc_node_range+0x28c/0x478 __vmalloc_node_flags_caller+0x8c/0xb0 kvmalloc_node+0x88/0xe0 nfsd_init_net+0x6c/0x108 [nfsd] ops_init+0x44/0x170 register_pernet_operations+0x114/0x270 register_pernet_subsys+0x34/0x50 init_nfsd+0xa8/0x718 [nfsd] do_one_initcall+0x54/0x2e0 CPU 2 : Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 0000000000000010 PC is at : exports_net_open+0x50/0x68 [nfsd] Call trace: exports_net_open+0x50/0x68 [nfsd] exports_proc_open+0x2c/0x38 [nfsd] proc_reg_open+0xb8/0x198 do_dentry_open+0x1c4/0x418 vfs_open+0x38/0x48 path_openat+0x28c/0xf18 do_filp_open+0x70/0xe8 do_sys_open+0x154/0x248 Sometimes it crashes at exports_net_open() and sometimes cache_seq_next_rcu(). and same is happening on latest 6.14 kernel as well: [ 0.000000] Linux version 6.14.0-rc5-next-20250304-dirty ... [ 285.455918] Unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address 00001f4800001f48 ... [ 285.464902] pc : cache_seq_next_rcu+0x78/0xa4 ... [ 285.469695] Call trace: [ 285.470083] cache_seq_next_rcu+0x78/0xa4 (P) [ 285.470488] seq_read+0xe0/0x11c [ 285.470675] proc_reg_read+0x9c/0xf0 [ 285.470874] vfs_read+0xc4/0x2fc [ 285.471057] ksys_read+0x6c/0xf4 [ 285.471231] __arm64_sys_read+0x1c/0x28 [ 285.471428] invoke_syscall+0x44/0x100 [ 285.471633] el0_svc_common.constprop.0+0x40/0xe0 [ 285.471870] do_el0_svc_compat+0x1c/0x34 [ 285.472073] el0_svc_compat+0x2c/0x80 [ 285.472265] el0t_32_sync_handler+0x90/0x140 [ 285.472473] el0t_32_sync+0x19c/0x1a0 [ 285.472887] Code: f9400885 93407c23 937d7c27 11000421 (f86378a3) [ 285.473422] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- It reproduced simply with below script: while [ 1 ] do /exportfs -r done & while [ 1 ] do insmod /nfsd.ko mount -t nfsd none /proc/fs/nfsd umount /proc/fs/nfsd rmmod nfsd done & So exporting interfaces to user space shall be done at last and cleanup at first place. With change there is no Kernel OOPs.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.5, 5.11, 5.12
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.15.199, 6.1.162, 6.6.122, 6.12.35, 6.15.4, 6.16
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2025-38232
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-8799-vgxh-gh75
References
Patch 6
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/49b57b98fa601ae6cc7897bab4515129da8290f7
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/88d6785c173a7c4de05bef8c4fd8a9b42ead02d5
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8120e420013d947c890f358f30a2d98ba8ac20bc
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2029ca75cdfa6a25716a5a76b751486cce7e3822
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/327011a2bb4f7de9c72b891a96ce8d902828bddf
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f7fb730cac9aafda8b9813b55d04e28a9664d17c
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Sources
- CVE-2025-38232 · CVE Program
- CVE-2025-38232 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-8799-vgxh-gh75 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2025-38232 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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