CVE-2025-38261 Vulnerability Analysis & Exploit Details

CVE-2025-38261
Vulnerability Scoring

Analysis In Progress

Attack Complexity Details

Attack Complexity:
Attack Complexity Analysis In Progress
Attack Vector:
Attack Vector Under Analysis
Privileges Required: None
No authentication is required for exploitation.
Scope:
Impact is confined to the initially vulnerable component.
User Interaction: None
No user interaction is necessary for exploitation.

CVE-2025-38261 Details

Status: Received on 09 Jul 2025, 11:15 UTC

Published on: 09 Jul 2025, 11:15 UTC

CVSS Release:

CVE-2025-38261 Vulnerability Summary

CVE-2025-38261: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: riscv: save the SR_SUM status over switches When threads/tasks are switched we need to ensure the old execution's SR_SUM state is saved and the new thread has the old SR_SUM state restored. The issue was seen under heavy load especially with the syz-stress tool running, with crashes as follows in schedule_tail: Unable to handle kernel access to user memory without uaccess routines at virtual address 000000002749f0d0 Oops [#1] Modules linked in: CPU: 1 PID: 4875 Comm: syz-executor.0 Not tainted 5.12.0-rc2-syzkaller-00467-g0d7588ab9ef9 #0 Hardware name: riscv-virtio,qemu (DT) epc : schedule_tail+0x72/0xb2 kernel/sched/core.c:4264 ra : task_pid_vnr include/linux/sched.h:1421 [inline] ra : schedule_tail+0x70/0xb2 kernel/sched/core.c:4264 epc : ffffffe00008c8b0 ra : ffffffe00008c8ae sp : ffffffe025d17ec0 gp : ffffffe005d25378 tp : ffffffe00f0d0000 t0 : 0000000000000000 t1 : 0000000000000001 t2 : 00000000000f4240 s0 : ffffffe025d17ee0 s1 : 000000002749f0d0 a0 : 000000000000002a a1 : 0000000000000003 a2 : 1ffffffc0cfac500 a3 : ffffffe0000c80cc a4 : 5ae9db91c19bbe00 a5 : 0000000000000000 a6 : 0000000000f00000 a7 : ffffffe000082eba s2 : 0000000000040000 s3 : ffffffe00eef96c0 s4 : ffffffe022c77fe0 s5 : 0000000000004000 s6 : ffffffe067d74e00 s7 : ffffffe067d74850 s8 : ffffffe067d73e18 s9 : ffffffe067d74e00 s10: ffffffe00eef96e8 s11: 000000ae6cdf8368 t3 : 5ae9db91c19bbe00 t4 : ffffffc4043cafb2 t5 : ffffffc4043cafba t6 : 0000000000040000 status: 0000000000000120 badaddr: 000000002749f0d0 cause: 000000000000000f Call Trace: [<ffffffe00008c8b0>] schedule_tail+0x72/0xb2 kernel/sched/core.c:4264 [<ffffffe000005570>] ret_from_exception+0x0/0x14 Dumping ftrace buffer: (ftrace buffer empty) ---[ end trace b5f8f9231dc87dda ]--- The issue comes from the put_user() in schedule_tail (kernel/sched/core.c) doing the following: asmlinkage __visible void schedule_tail(struct task_struct *prev) { ... if (current->set_child_tid) put_user(task_pid_vnr(current), current->set_child_tid); ... } the put_user() macro causes the code sequence to come out as follows: 1: __enable_user_access() 2: reg = task_pid_vnr(current); 3: *current->set_child_tid = reg; 4: __disable_user_access() The problem is that we may have a sleeping function as argument which could clear SR_SUM causing the panic above. This was fixed by evaluating the argument of the put_user() macro outside the user-enabled section in commit 285a76bb2cf5 ("riscv: evaluate put_user() arg before enabling user access")" In order for riscv to take advantage of unsafe_get/put_XXX() macros and to avoid the same issue we had with put_user() and sleeping functions we must ensure code flow can go through switch_to() from within a region of code with SR_SUM enabled and come back with SR_SUM still enabled. This patch addresses the problem allowing future work to enable full use of unsafe_get/put_XXX() macros without needing to take a CSR bit flip cost on every access. Make switch_to() save and restore SR_SUM.

Assessing the Risk of CVE-2025-38261

Access Complexity Graph

The exploitability of CVE-2025-38261 depends on two key factors: attack complexity (the level of effort required to execute an exploit) and privileges required (the access level an attacker needs).

Exploitability Analysis for CVE-2025-38261

No exploitability data is available for CVE-2025-38261.

Understanding AC and PR

A lower complexity and fewer privilege requirements make exploitation easier. Security teams should evaluate these aspects to determine the urgency of mitigation strategies, such as patch management and access control policies.

Attack Complexity (AC) measures the difficulty in executing an exploit. A high AC means that specific conditions must be met, making an attack more challenging, while a low AC means the vulnerability can be exploited with minimal effort.

Privileges Required (PR) determine the level of system access necessary for an attack. Vulnerabilities requiring no privileges are more accessible to attackers, whereas high privilege requirements limit exploitation to authorized users with elevated access.

CVSS Score Breakdown Chart

Above is the CVSS Sub-score Breakdown for CVE-2025-38261, illustrating how Base, Impact, and Exploitability factors combine to form the overall severity rating. A higher sub-score typically indicates a more severe or easier-to-exploit vulnerability.

CIA Impact Analysis

Below is the Impact Analysis for CVE-2025-38261, showing how Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability might be affected if the vulnerability is exploited. Higher values usually signal greater potential damage.

Confidentiality: None
CVE-2025-38261 does not compromise confidentiality.
Integrity: None
CVE-2025-38261 does not impact data integrity.
Availability: None
CVE-2025-38261 does not affect system availability.

CVE-2025-38261 References

External References

CWE Common Weakness Enumeration

Unknown

Protect Your Infrastructure against CVE-2025-38261: Combat Critical CVE Threats

Stay updated with real-time CVE vulnerabilities and take action to secure your systems. Enhance your cybersecurity posture with the latest threat intelligence and mitigation techniques. Develop the skills necessary to defend against CVEs and secure critical infrastructures. Join the top cybersecurity professionals safeguarding today's infrastructures.

Other 5 Recently Published CVEs Vulnerabilities

CVE-2025-6514 – mcp-remote is exposed to OS command injection when connecting to untrusted MCP servers due to crafted input from the authorization_endpoint response URL
CVE-2025-38264 – In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: nvme-tcp: sanitize request list handling Validate the request in nvme_tcp_han...
CVE-2025-38263 – In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bcache: fix NULL pointer in cache_set_flush() 1. LINE#1794 - LINE#1887 is som...
CVE-2025-38262 – In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tty: serial: uartlite: register uart driver in init When two instances of uar...
CVE-2025-38261 – In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: riscv: save the SR_SUM status over switches When threads/tasks are switched w...