Vulnerability · CVE-2025-38681
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/ptdump: take the memory hotplug lock inside ptdump_walk_pgd() Memory hot remove unmaps and tears…
Published Sep 4, 2025 · catalog updated Oct 19, 2026 · linux kernel
Check if you run it
No confirmed exploitation is on record for CVE-2025-38681. EPSS is 0.13%. Act only if a listed version of linux kernel is installed.
Gaps on this record
- No vendor fix or required action is stored. Compare the linked advisory before you change production.
- Severity
- Medium4.7
- Known exploitation
- Not in CISA/VulnCheck KEV
- EPSS
- 0.13%
- Remediation
- Advisory link
- Affected products
- cpe debian/debian linux · cpe linux/linux kernel
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/ptdump: take the memory hotplug lock inside ptdump_walk_pgd() Memory hot remove unmaps and tears down various kernel page table regions as required. The ptdump code can race with concurrent modifications of the kernel page tables. When leaf entries are modified concurrently, the dump code may log stale or inconsistent information for a VA range, but this is otherwise not harmful. But when intermediate levels of kernel page table are freed, the dump code will continue to use memory that has been freed and potentially reallocated for another purpose. In such cases, the ptdump code may dereference bogus addresses, leading to a number of potential problems. To avoid the above mentioned race condition, platforms such as arm64, riscv and s390 take memory hotplug lock, while dumping kernel page table via the sysfs interface /sys/kernel/debug/kernel_page_tables. Similar race condition exists while checking for pages that might have been marked W+X via /sys/kernel/debug/kernel_page_tables/check_wx_pages which in turn calls ptdump_check_wx(). Instead of solving this race condition again, let's just move the memory hotplug lock inside generic ptdump_check_wx() which will benefit both the scenarios. Drop get_online_mems() and put_online_mems() combination from all existing platform ptdump code paths.
Are you affected?
Enter the version you run. The result uses only the ranges stored on this record.
The check returns affected, not affected, or incomplete. It does not guess a version that is missing from the record.
- cpe debian/debian linux11.0
- cpe linux/linux kernelversion unspecified
How to fix CVE-2025-38681
Recommended remediation
A patch or advisory reference is linked. Open the original publisher for availability by product version.
Official advisories
What to do
Three questions, each answered from this record only. Confirm the vendor advisory before you patch.
Should you patch?
No confirmed exploitation is on record for CVE-2025-38681. EPSS is 0.13%. Act only if a listed version of linux kernel is installed.
Which versions are affected?
Compare what you have installed with debian/debian linux 11.0. Compare the installed version with the linked vendor advisory before you change production.
What should an analyst verify?
CWE-362: Race Condition. EPSS 0.13%. There is no CISA KEV listing. No Exploit-DB or Metasploit reference is linked. Use the source links for the original advisory.
Code
The project this record applies to. Exploit listings stay in References.
Timeline
Detection, updates, and resolution for this record.
Sep 4, 2025 · NIST NVD
Detected
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/ptdump: take the memory hotplug lock inside ptdump_walk_pgd() Memory hot remove unmaps and tears down various kernel page table regions as required. The ptdump code can race with concurrent modifications of the kernel page tables. When leaf entries are modified concurrently, the dump code may log stale or inconsistent informati
Oct 15, 2026 · NIST NVD
Updated
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/ptdump: take the memory hotplug lock inside ptdump_walk_pgd() Memory hot remove unmaps and tears down various kernel page table regions as required. The ptdump code can race with concurrent modifications of the kernel page tables. When leaf entries are modified concurrently, the dump code may log stale or inconsistent informati
Oct 19, 2026 · NIST NVD
Updated
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/ptdump: take the memory hotplug lock inside ptdump_walk_pgd() Memory hot remove unmaps and tears down various kernel page table regions as required. The ptdump code can race with concurrent modifications of the kernel page tables. When leaf entries are modified concurrently, the dump code may log stale or inconsistent informati
Sources
- CVE.orgVulnerability recordCVE-2025-38681
Official CVE identifier
cve.org - FIRST EPSSExploitation probabilityCVE-2025-38681
30-day exploitation probability 0.1%
first.org - NIST NVDVulnerability recordCVE-2025-38681
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/ptdump: take the memory hotplug lock inside ptdump_walk_pgd() Memory hot remove unmaps and tears down various kernel page table regions as required. The ptdump code can race with concurrent modifications of
nvd.nist.gov
References
Freshness
Last verified in this catalog Oct 18, 2026. Significant claims (KEV, EPSS, CVSS, affected ranges) come from the source rows above — open the original publisher for the authoritative advisory.