CVE-2025-38372: linux kernel vulnerability

What is known

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: RDMA/mlx5: Fix unsafe xarray access in implicit ODP handling __xa_store() and __xa_erase() were used without holding the proper lock, which led to a lockdep warning due to unsafe RCU usage. This patch replaces them with xa_store() and xa_erase(), which perform the necessary locking internally. ============================= WARNING: suspicious RCPU usage 6.14.0-rc7_for_upstream_debug_2025_03_18_15_01 #1 Not tainted ----------------------------- ./include/linux/xarray.h:1211 suspicious rcu_dereference_protected() usage! other info that might help us debug this: rcu_scheduler_active = 2, debug_locks = 1 3 locks held by kworker/u136:0/219: at: process_one_work+0xbe4/0x15f0 process_one_work+0x75c/0x15f0 pagefault_mr+0x9a5/0x1390 [mlx5_ib] stack backtrace: CPU: 14 UID: 0 PID: 219 Comm: kworker/u136:0 Not tainted 6.14.0-rc7_for_upstream_debug_2025_03_18_15_01 #1 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS rel-1.16.0-0-gd239552ce722-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 Workqueue: mlx5_ib_page_fault mlx5_ib_eqe_pf_action [mlx5_ib] Call Trace: dump_stack_lvl+0xa8/0xc0 lockdep_rcu_suspicious+0x1e6/0x260 xas_create+0xb8a/0xee0 xas_store+0x73/0x14c0 __xa_store+0x13c/0x220 ? xa_store_range+0x390/0x390 ? spin_bug+0x1d0/0x1d0 pagefault_mr+0xcb5/0x1390 [mlx5_ib] ? _raw_spin_unlock+0x1f/0x30 mlx5_ib_eqe_pf_action+0x3be/0x2620 [mlx5_ib] ? lockdep_hardirqs_on_prepare+0x400/0x400 ? mlx5_ib_invalidate_range+0xcb0/0xcb0 [mlx5_ib] process_one_work+0x7db/0x15f0 ? pwq_dec_nr_in_flight+0xda0/0xda0 ? assign_work+0x168/0x240 worker_thread+0x57d/0xcd0 ? rescuer_thread+0xc40/0xc40 kthread+0x3b3/0x800 ? kthread_is_per_cpu+0xb0/0xb0 ? lock_downgrade+0x680/0x680 ? do_raw_spin_lock+0x12d/0x270 ? spin_bug+0x1d0/0x1d0 ? finish_task_switch.isra.0+0x284/0x9e0 ? lockdep_hardirqs_on_prepare+0x284/0x400 ? kthread_is_per_cpu+0xb0/0xb0 ret_from_fork+0x2d/0x70 ? kthread_is_per_cpu+0xb0/0xb0 ret_from_fork_asm+0x11/0x20

Business impact

Successful exploitation of CVE-2025-38372, a high vulnerability (CVSS 7.8) affecting linux kernel, may affect the confidentiality, integrity or availability of the vulnerable environment. The exact impact depends on the installed version, exposed interfaces and deployment configuration.

Recommended administrator action

Confirm whether linux kernel is present and compare installed versions with the vendor advisory and NVD record. Apply the vendor patch or documented mitigation; until remediation is complete, reduce exposure of affected interfaces, review relevant logs and monitor for indicators of exploitation. DataHouse can support version verification, managed patching, network exposure reduction, log review and backup validation for dedicated, cloud and colocated environments.

Sources

• NVD
• Reference
• Reference
• Reference