CVE-2025-38510: kasan: remove kasan_find_vm_area() to prevent possible deadlock

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: 2025-08-16 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-476

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: kasan: remove kasan_find_vm_area() to prevent possible deadlock find_vm_area() couldn't be called in atomic_context. If find_vm_area() is called to reports vm area information, kasan can trigger deadlock like: CPU0 CPU1 vmalloc(); alloc_vmap_area(); spin_lock(&vn->busy.lock) spin_lock_bh(&some_lock); <interrupt occurs> <in softirq> spin_lock(&some_lock); <access invalid address> kasan_report(); print_report(); print_address_description(); kasan_find_vm_area(); find_vm_area(); spin_lock(&vn->busy.lock) // deadlock! To prevent possible deadlock while kasan reports, remove kasan_find_vm_area().

Affected products

Debian Linux: 11.0
Linux kernel: from 5.18 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; 6.16-rc1, 6.16-rc2, 6.16-rc3, 6.16-rc4, 6.16-rc5 — fixed in 6.1.146, 6.12.39, 6.15.7, 6.6.99

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 6.1.146, 6.12.39, 6.15.7, 6.6.99. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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