Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-38692

DoS in Linux Kernel 5.7 – 6.6.103

Published
04 September 2025
Modified
17 June 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 5.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0015 5th percentile
Risk Priority 41 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-38692 is a medium-severity Infinite Loop (CWE-835) vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 5.5 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Application or System Exploitation (T1499.004); ranked at the 5th 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 SI-2 (Flaw Remediation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: exfat: add cluster chain loop check for dir An infinite loop may occur if the following conditions occur due to file system corruption. (1) Condition for exfat_count_dir_entries() to loop infinitely.…

more

- The cluster chain includes a loop. - There is no UNUSED entry in the cluster chain. (2) Condition for exfat_create_upcase_table() to loop infinitely. - The cluster chain of the root directory includes a loop. - There are no UNUSED entry and up-case table entry in the cluster chain of the root directory. (3) Condition for exfat_load_bitmap() to loop infinitely. - The cluster chain of the root directory includes a loop. - There are no UNUSED entry and bitmap entry in the cluster chain of the root directory. (4) Condition for exfat_find_dir_entry() to loop infinitely. - The cluster chain includes a loop. - The unused directory entries were exhausted by some operation. (5) Condition for exfat_check_dir_empty() to loop infinitely. - The cluster chain includes a loop. - The unused directory entries were exhausted by some operation. - All files and sub-directories under the directory are deleted. This commit adds checks to break the above infinite loop.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1499.004 Application or System Exploitation Impact
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities that can cause an application or system to crash and deny availability to users.
T1499 Endpoint Denial of Service Impact
Adversaries may perform Endpoint Denial of Service (DoS) attacks to degrade or block the availability of services to users.
T1499.003 Application Exhaustion Flood Impact
Adversaries may target resource intensive features of applications to cause a denial of service (DoS), denying availability to those applications.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

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CVE-2025-38649Same product: Linux Linux Kernel

Affected Assets

linux
linux kernel
5.7 — 6.6.103 · 6.7 — 6.12.43 · 6.13 — 6.15.11

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation can discover unreachable loop exit conditions through static analysis, fuzzing, or execution tracing.

Flaw remediation processes identify and correct infinite-loop defects reported from testing or operations.

Requiring documented development processes and secure coding standards reduces introduction of loops whose termination conditions are unreachable.

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.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices (reviews, testing, static analysis) directly prevent introduction of infinite-loop defects.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Static analysis and vuln scanning during asset assessment can detect unreachable loop exits.

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.

finds

Security testing can uncover infinite-loop conditions before release.

prevents

Secure development life cycle mandates practices that can detect and prevent infinite-loop defects.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify loop-termination rules, indirectly reducing the weakness.

prevents

Secure coding standards directly address loop termination and prevent infinite loops.

none

Secure architecture principles encourage designs that avoid unreachable exit conditions.

none

Change management can require review of loop logic when code is modified.

References