CVE Catalog

CVE-2025-38466

HighCVSS 7.8
Published: Updated: Translated: NVD NIST

Exploitation Probability (EPSS)

Low risk
0.18%

8th percentile - higher than 8% of all known CVEs

Summary

In the Linux kernel, uprobes can be used destructively when placed in the middle of an instruction. Since the kernel cannot verify if a byte is actually an instruction in the execution stream, the requirement for CAP_SYS_ADMIN for uprobes has been reinstated.

Risk Assessment

An attacker without CAP_SYS_ADMIN could potentially use uprobes to destabilize the system or gain unauthorized access.

Recommendation

Immediately update the Linux kernel to a version containing this fix. Restrict uprobes access to users with CAP_SYS_ADMIN only.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

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Original NVD description (English source)

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: perf: Revert to requiring CAP_SYS_ADMIN for uprobes Jann reports that uprobes can be used destructively when used in the middle of an instruction. The kernel only verifies there is a valid instruction at the requested offset, but due to variable instruction length cannot determine if this is an instruction as seen by the intended execution stream. Additionally, Mark Rutland notes that on architectures that mix data in the text segment (like arm64), a similar things can be done if the data word is 'mistaken' for an instruction. As such, require CAP_SYS_ADMIN for uprobes.

Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS