Bug 2383482 (CVE-2025-38466)

Summary: CVE-2025-38466 kernel: Linux kernel: Denial of Service in uprobes due to improper instruction validation
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: medium    
Version: unspecifiedCC: rhel-process-autobot, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
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Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's uprobes functionality. A local attacker with elevated privileges could exploit this vulnerability by using uprobes destructively in the middle of an instruction. This is possible because the kernel incorrectly validates instructions, potentially mistaking data for executable code on some architectures. Successful exploitation could lead to a denial of service (DoS) on the affected system.
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2025-07-25 16:01:40 UTC 
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

perf: Revert to requiring CAP_SYS_ADMIN for uprobes

Jann reports that uprobes can be used destructively when used in the
middle of an instruction. The kernel only verifies there is a valid
instruction at the requested offset, but due to variable instruction
length cannot determine if this is an instruction as seen by the
intended execution stream.

Additionally, Mark Rutland notes that on architectures that mix data
in the text segment (like arm64), a similar things can be done if the
data word is 'mistaken' for an instruction.

As such, require CAP_SYS_ADMIN for uprobes.
Comment 1 Jon Moroney 2025-07-25 17:30:35 UTC Comment hidden (spam)