Use After Free in Linux

CVE-2025-38596

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: drm/panthor: Fix UAF in panthor_gem_create_with_handle() debugfs code The object is potentially already gone after the drm_gem_object_put(). In general the object should be fully constructed before calling drm_gem_handle_create(), except the debugfs tracking uses a separate lock and list and separate flag to denotate whether the object is actually initialized. Since I'm touching this all anyway simplify this by only adding the object to the debugfs when it's ready for that, which allows us to delete that separate flag. panthor_gem_debugfs_bo_rm() already checks whether we've actually been added to the list or this is some error path cleanup. v2: Fix build issues for !CONFIG_DEBUGFS (Adrián) v3: Add linebreak and remove outdated comment (Liviu)

Vulnerability class: Use-After-Free

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.8 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.002 (4.3th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 4th percentile — 4.3% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2025-38596: held from 0.002 to 0.002.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.002 · newest: 0.002 · change: +0.000

Affected products

  • Linux — versions a3707f53eb3f4f3e7a30d720be0885f813d649bb, 6.16, 0
  • Linux Kernel — versions 6.16

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2025-38596?
CVE-2025-38596 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under Use After Free. CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2025-08-19.
How severe is CVE-2025-38596?
High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.