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TI-2025-25855 Aliases CVE-2025-38517GHSA-864c-jv4g-gp7q

lib/alloc_tag: do not acquire non-existent lock in alloc_tag_top_users()

Priority LOW 24CWE-476Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Local
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low
Impact type
Denial of service
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
None · None · High
Fix status
Fixed

Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-476.

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: lib/alloc_tag: do not acquire non-existent lock in alloc_tag_top_users() alloc_tag_top_users() attempts to lock alloc_tag_cttype->mod_lock even when the alloc_tag_cttype is not allocated because: 1) alloc tagging is disabled because mem profiling is disabled (!alloc_tag_cttype) 2) alloc tagging is enabled, but not yet initialized (!alloc_tag_cttype) 3) alloc tagging is enabled, but failed initialization (!alloc_tag_cttype or IS_ERR(alloc_tag_cttype)) In all cases, alloc_tag_cttype is not allocated, and therefore alloc_tag_top_users() should not attempt to acquire the semaphore. This leads to a crash on memory allocation failure by attempting to acquire a non-existent semaphore: Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc000000001b: 0000 [#3] SMP KASAN NOPTI KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x00000000000000d8-0x00000000000000df] CPU: 2 UID: 0 PID: 1 Comm: systemd Tainted: G D 6.16.0-rc2 #1 VOLUNTARY Tainted: [D]=DIE Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.16.2-debian-1.16.2-1 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:down_read_trylock+0xaa/0x3b0 Code: d0 7c 08 84 d2 0f 85 a0 02 00 00 8b 0d df 31 dd 04 85 c9 75 29 48 b8 00 00 00 00 00 fc ff df 48 8d 6b 68 48 89 ea 48 c1 ea 03 <80> 3c 02 00 0f 85 88 02 00 00 48 3b 5b 68 0f 85 53 01 00 00 65 ff RSP: 0000:ffff8881002ce9b8 EFLAGS: 00010016 RAX: dffffc0000000000 RBX: 0000000000000070 RCX: 0000000000000000 RDX: 000000000000001b RSI: 000000000000000a RDI: 0000000000000070 RBP: 00000000000000d8 R08: 0000000000000001 R09: ffffed107dde49d1 R10: ffff8883eef24e8b R11: ffff8881002cec20 R12: 1ffff11020059d37 R13: 00000000003fff7b R14: ffff8881002cec20 R15: dffffc0000000000 FS: 00007f963f21d940(0000) GS:ffff888458ca6000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 00007f963f5edf71 CR3: 000000010672c000 CR4: 0000000000350ef0 Call Trace: <TASK> codetag_trylock_module_list+0xd/0x20 alloc_tag_top_users+0x369/0x4b0 __show_mem+0x1cd/0x6e0 warn_alloc+0x2b1/0x390 __alloc_frozen_pages_noprof+0x12b9/0x21a0 alloc_pages_mpol+0x135/0x3e0 alloc_slab_page+0x82/0xe0 new_slab+0x212/0x240 ___slab_alloc+0x82a/0xe00 </TASK> As David Wang points out, this issue became easier to trigger after commit 780138b12381 ("alloc_tag: check mem_profiling_support in alloc_tag_init"). Before the commit, the issue occurred only when it failed to allocate and initialize alloc_tag_cttype or if a memory allocation fails before alloc_tag_init() is called. After the commit, it can be easily triggered when memory profiling is compiled but disabled at boot. To properly determine whether alloc_tag_init() has been called and its data structures initialized, verify that alloc_tag_cttype is a valid pointer before acquiring the semaphore. If the variable is NULL or an error value, it has not been properly initialized. In such a case, just skip and do not attempt to acquire the semaphore. [[email protected]: v3]

Why it matters now

EPSS 0.00162 5th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Fixed Linux (Linux): 6.12.39, 6.15.7, 6.16

SSVC decision points

Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.

Affected products

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
LinuxLinux6.10 and later6.12.39, 6.15.7, 6.16Patch availableCNA
  • Linux VendorLinux Affected 6.10 and later Fixed in 6.12.39, 6.15.7, 6.16 Patch available CNA

CPE configurations NVD · 6

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*6.10 to before 6.12.39; 6.13 to before 6.15.7VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.16:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*6.16 rc1VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.16:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*6.16 rc2VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.16:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*6.16 rc3VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.16:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*6.16 rc4VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.16:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:*6.16 rc5VulnerableLinux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.10 to before 6.12.39; 6.13 to before 6.15.7 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.16:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.16 rc1 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.16:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.16 rc2 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.16:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.16 rc3 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.16:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.16 rc4 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.16:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.16 rc5 Vulnerable ·Linux

Remediation

  • Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 6.12.39, 6.15.7, 6.16

Vendor assessments

Red Hat

Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →

Not affected: 5 products
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2025-38517
  2. 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-864c-jv4g-gp7q

References

  • TI-2025-26358 tls: fix handling of zero-length records on the rx_list KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2026-38352 netfilter: bridge: make ebt_snat ARP rewrite writable KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
  • TI-2013-05264 The (1) get_user and (2) put_user API functions in the Linux kernel before 3.5.5 on the… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
  • TI-2022-00125 Integer overflow in kernel KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
  • TI-2013-01864 The perf_swevent_init function in kernel/events/core.c in the Linux kernel before 3.8.9… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
  • TI-2021-05514 Heap Out-Of-Bounds Write in Netfilter IP6T_SO_SET_REPLACE KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.3
See all 15278 →

Sources