CVE-2025-38453
- Published: 2025-07-25T16:15:30.913
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
io_uring/msg_ring: ensure io_kiocb freeing is deferred for RCU
syzbot reports that defer/local task_work adding via msg_ring can hit
a request that has been freed:
CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 19356 Comm: iou-wrk-19354 Not tainted 6.16.0-rc4-syzkaller-00108-g17bbde2e1716 #0 PREEMPT(full)
Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 05/07/2025
Call Trace:
dump_stack_lvl+0x189/0x250 lib/dump_stack.c:120
print_address_description mm/kasan/report.c:408 [inline]
print_report+0xd2/0x2b0 mm/kasan/report.c:521
kasan_report+0x118/0x150 mm/kasan/report.c:634
io_req_local_work_add io_uring/io_uring.c:1184 [inline]
__io_req_task_work_add+0x589/0x950 io_uring/io_uring.c:1252
io_msg_remote_post io_uring/msg_ring.c:103 [inline]
io_msg_data_remote io_uring/msg_ring.c:133 [inline]
__io_msg_ring_data+0x820/0xaa0 io_uring/msg_ring.c:151
io_msg_ring_data io_uring/msg_ring.c:173 [inline]
io_msg_ring+0x134/0xa00 io_uring/msg_ring.c:314
__io_issue_sqe+0x17e/0x4b0 io_uring/io_uring.c:1739
io_issue_sqe+0x165/0xfd0 io_uring/io_uring.c:1762
io_wq_submit_work+0x6e9/0xb90 io_uring/io_uring.c:1874
io_worker_handle_work+0x7cd/0x1180 io_uring/io-wq.c:642
io_wq_worker+0x42f/0xeb0 io_uring/io-wq.c:696
ret_from_fork+0x3fc/0x770 arch/x86/kernel/process.c:148
ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:245
which is supposed to be safe with how requests are allocated. But msg
ring requests alloc and free on their own, and hence must defer freeing
to a sane time.
Add an rcu_head and use kfree_rcu() in both spots where requests are
freed. Only the one in io_msg_tw_complete() is strictly required as it
has been visible on the other ring, but use it consistently in the other
spot as well.
This should not cause any other issues outside of KASAN rightfully
complaining about it.
Related CVE by CWE
No related CWE found.
Top CVE for Vendor
No vendor taxonomy on this entry.
Recently Exploited Similar Vulnerabilities
No recent KEV-listed items for this vendor/product.
How to fix CVE-2025-38453
Description: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: io_uring/msg_ring: ensure io_kiocb freeing is deferred for RCU syzbot reports that defer/local task_work adding via msg_ring can hit a request that has been freed: CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 19356 Comm: iou-wrk-19354 Not tainted 6.16.0-rc4-syzkaller-00108-g17bbde2e1716 #0 PREEMPT(full) Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, […]
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
Vulnerability Timeline
CVE details first published to NVD database
Added to this CVE tracking system
Detection Rules & IOCs
No specific detection rules generated for this vulnerability type.
No vendor/product data available.