Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HCVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.
Summary
CVE-2025-38129 is a high-severity Use After Free (CWE-416) vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Client Execution (T1203); ranked at the 6th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SA-8 (Security and Privacy Engineering Principles) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-19814
Vulnerability Data
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: page_pool: Fix use-after-free in page_pool_recycle_in_ring syzbot reported a uaf in page_pool_recycle_in_ring: BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in lock_release+0x151/0xa30 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5862 Read of size 8 at addr ffff8880286045a0 by task syz.0.284/6943 CPU: 0 UID:…
more
0 PID: 6943 Comm: syz.0.284 Not tainted 6.13.0-rc3-syzkaller-gdfa94ce54f41 #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 09/13/2024 Call Trace: <TASK> __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:94 [inline] dump_stack_lvl+0x241/0x360 lib/dump_stack.c:120 print_address_description mm/kasan/report.c:378 [inline] print_report+0x169/0x550 mm/kasan/report.c:489 kasan_report+0x143/0x180 mm/kasan/report.c:602 lock_release+0x151/0xa30 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5862 __raw_spin_unlock_bh include/linux/spinlock_api_smp.h:165 [inline] _raw_spin_unlock_bh+0x1b/0x40 kernel/locking/spinlock.c:210 spin_unlock_bh include/linux/spinlock.h:396 [inline] ptr_ring_produce_bh include/linux/ptr_ring.h:164 [inline] page_pool_recycle_in_ring net/core/page_pool.c:707 [inline] page_pool_put_unrefed_netmem+0x748/0xb00 net/core/page_pool.c:826 page_pool_put_netmem include/net/page_pool/helpers.h:323 [inline] page_pool_put_full_netmem include/net/page_pool/helpers.h:353 [inline] napi_pp_put_page+0x149/0x2b0 net/core/skbuff.c:1036 skb_pp_recycle net/core/skbuff.c:1047 [inline] skb_free_head net/core/skbuff.c:1094 [inline] skb_release_data+0x6c4/0x8a0 net/core/skbuff.c:1125 skb_release_all net/core/skbuff.c:1190 [inline] __kfree_skb net/core/skbuff.c:1204 [inline] sk_skb_reason_drop+0x1c9/0x380 net/core/skbuff.c:1242 kfree_skb_reason include/linux/skbuff.h:1263 [inline] __skb_queue_purge_reason include/linux/skbuff.h:3343 [inline] root cause is: page_pool_recycle_in_ring ptr_ring_produce spin_lock(&r->producer_lock); WRITE_ONCE(r->queue[r->producer++], ptr) //recycle last page to pool page_pool_release page_pool_scrub page_pool_empty_ring ptr_ring_consume page_pool_return_page //release all page __page_pool_destroy free_percpu(pool->recycle_stats); free(pool) //free spin_unlock(&r->producer_lock); //pool->ring uaf read recycle_stat_inc(pool, ring); page_pool can be free while page pool recycle the last page in ring. Add producer-lock barrier to page_pool_release to prevent the page pool from being free before all pages have been recycled. recycle_stat_inc() is empty when CONFIG_PAGE_POOL_STATS is not enabled, which will trigger Wempty-body build warning. Add definition for pool stat macro to fix warning.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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- 3 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
V1.4.3
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Developer testing and evaluation can discover use-after-free bugs through dynamic analysis or fuzzing.
Engineering principles can require memory-safe constructs or languages that structurally avoid introducing use-after-free.
Process isolation confines the blast radius of use-after-free memory corruption to a single execution domain.
Memory protection controls limit exploitation impact by blocking unauthorized code execution from dangling pointers.
Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Secure SDLC practices directly incorporate memory-safety tooling and reviews that prevent most use-after-free defects.
Vulnerability identification processes can discover use-after-free issues via scanning or analysis but do not prevent their introduction.
Routine patching removes known use-after-free instances after they have been introduced in released software.
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Security testing in development can detect use-after-free bugs before release.
Secure SDLC mandates memory-safety practices that reduce use-after-free defects.
Application security requirements can specify memory-management rules that mitigate use-after-free.
Secure architecture principles include memory-safety design choices that limit use-after-free exposure.
Secure coding standards directly prescribe avoidance of use-after-free patterns.
Change-management processes help ensure memory-safety fixes are deployed consistently.
Hardening callouts derived
Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).
Oracle Linux 8 (1 rule)
- V-248592 OL 8 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. prevents CWE-416
RHEL 8 (1 rule)
- V-230279 RHEL 8 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. prevents CWE-416
RHEL 9 (1 rule)
- V-257794 RHEL 9 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. prevents CWE-416