CVE-2025-38449
- Published: 2025-07-25T16:15:30.443
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
drm/gem: Acquire references on GEM handles for framebuffers
A GEM handle can be released while the GEM buffer object is attached
to a DRM framebuffer. This leads to the release of the dma-buf backing
the buffer object, if any. [1] Trying to use the framebuffer in further
mode-setting operations leads to a segmentation fault. Most easily
happens with driver that use shadow planes for vmap-ing the dma-buf
during a page flip. An example is shown below.
[ 156.791968] ————[ cut here ]————
[ 156.796830] WARNING: CPU: 2 PID: 2255 at drivers/dma-buf/dma-buf.c:1527 dma_buf_vmap+0x224/0x430
[…]
[ 156.942028] RIP: 0010:dma_buf_vmap+0x224/0x430
[ 157.043420] Call Trace:
[ 157.045898]
[ 157.048030] ? show_trace_log_lvl+0x1af/0x2c0
[ 157.052436] ? show_trace_log_lvl+0x1af/0x2c0
[ 157.056836] ? show_trace_log_lvl+0x1af/0x2c0
[ 157.061253] ? drm_gem_shmem_vmap+0x74/0x710
[ 157.065567] ? dma_buf_vmap+0x224/0x430
[ 157.069446] ? __warn.cold+0x58/0xe4
[ 157.073061] ? dma_buf_vmap+0x224/0x430
[ 157.077111] ? report_bug+0x1dd/0x390
[ 157.080842] ? handle_bug+0x5e/0xa0
[ 157.084389] ? exc_invalid_op+0x14/0x50
[ 157.088291] ? asm_exc_invalid_op+0x16/0x20
[ 157.092548] ? dma_buf_vmap+0x224/0x430
[ 157.096663] ? dma_resv_get_singleton+0x6d/0x230
[ 157.101341] ? __pfx_dma_buf_vmap+0x10/0x10
[ 157.105588] ? __pfx_dma_resv_get_singleton+0x10/0x10
[ 157.110697] drm_gem_shmem_vmap+0x74/0x710
[ 157.114866] drm_gem_vmap+0xa9/0x1b0
[ 157.118763] drm_gem_vmap_unlocked+0x46/0xa0
[ 157.123086] drm_gem_fb_vmap+0xab/0x300
[ 157.126979] drm_atomic_helper_prepare_planes.part.0+0x487/0xb10
[ 157.133032] ? lockdep_init_map_type+0x19d/0x880
[ 157.137701] drm_atomic_helper_commit+0x13d/0x2e0
[ 157.142671] ? drm_atomic_nonblocking_commit+0xa0/0x180
[ 157.147988] drm_mode_atomic_ioctl+0x766/0xe40
[…]
[ 157.346424] —[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]—
Acquiring GEM handles for the framebuffer’s GEM buffer objects prevents
this from happening. The framebuffer’s cleanup later puts the handle
references.
Commit 1a148af06000 (“drm/gem-shmem: Use dma_buf from GEM object
instance”) triggers the segmentation fault easily by using the dma-buf
field more widely. The underlying issue with reference counting has
been present before.
v2:
– acquire the handle instead of the BO (Christian)
– fix comment style (Christian)
– drop the Fixes tag (Christian)
– rename err_ gotos
– add missing Link tag
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How to fix CVE-2025-38449
Description: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: drm/gem: Acquire references on GEM handles for framebuffers A GEM handle can be released while the GEM buffer object is attached to a DRM framebuffer. This leads to the release of the dma-buf backing the buffer object, if any. [1] Trying to use the framebuffer […]
Exploit Difficulty: HARD
⏱️ Time to exploit: > 4 hours
🛠️ Required skills: Advanced security expertise
💰 Public exploits: Rare or not public
How to Fix:
- Check if you're running the affected product
- Update to the latest patched version
- If patching is not immediately possible: restrict network exposure, apply least-privilege access
- Test the fix in a staging environment first
- Review logs for signs of exploitation
- Monitor for IOCs (Indicators of Compromise)
- Enable automatic security updates
- Set up vulnerability monitoring
- Review and harden security configurations
Exploit Difficulty Assessment
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