CVE-2025-38466: perf: Revert to requiring CAP_SYS_ADMIN for uprobes

Severity: medium (CVSS 5.5 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2025-07-25 · updated 2026-10-15

Description

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.

Affected products

Debian Linux: 11.0
Linux kernel: from 5.8 before 5.10.240; from 5.11 before 5.15.189; from 5.16 before 6.1.146; from 6.2 before 6.6.99; from 6.7 before 6.12.39; from 6.13 before 6.15.7 — fixed in 5.10.240, 5.15.189, 6.1.146, 6.12.39, 6.15.7, 6.6.99

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 5.10.240, 5.15.189, 6.1.146, 6.12.39. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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