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 remo...

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.

Metrics

CVSS 3.1

4.7/10

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

EPSS Probability

0.11%

1.7th percentile

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days. Learn more

Weakness Enumeration

CWE-362

Affected Software

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	11.0

References

Timeline

Published: Sep 4, 2025
Last Modified: Jun 17, 2026
Status: Modified

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.

How severe is CVE-2025-38681?

CVE-2025-38681 has a CVSS score of 4.7/10 (MEDIUM severity). The EPSS model estimates a 0.11% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

How do I fix CVE-2025-38681?

Check the vendor references and advisories linked above for patched versions and mitigation guidance. You can also run a Strix scan to test if your systems are affected.