UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38282
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: kernfs: Relax constraint in draining guard The active reference lifecycle provides the break/unbreak mechanism but the active reference is not truly active after unbreak -- callers don't use it afterwards but it's important for proper pairing of kn->active counting. Assuming this mechanism is in place, the WARN check in kernfs_should_drain_open_files() is too sensitive -- it may transiently catch those (rightful) callers between kernfs_unbreak_active_protection() and kernfs_put_active() as found out by Chen Ridong: kernfs_remove_by_name_ns kernfs_get_active // active=1 __kernfs_remove // active=0x80000002 kernfs_drain ... wait_event //waiting (active == 0x80000001) kernfs_break_active_protection // active = 0x80000001 // continue kernfs_unbreak_active_protection // active = 0x80000002 ... kernfs_should_drain_open_files // warning occurs kernfs_put_active To avoid the false positives (mind panic_on_warn) remove the check altogether. (This is meant as quick fix, I think active reference break/unbreak may be simplified with larger rework.)
02 / AFFECTED SOFTWARE
Affected packages
11 explicit affected versions
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10 explicit affected versions
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10 explicit affected versions
11 explicit affected versions
12 explicit affected versions
7 explicit affected versions
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10 explicit affected versions
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31 explicit affected versions
26 explicit affected versions
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5 explicit affected versions
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18 explicit affected versions
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12 explicit affected versions
27 explicit affected versions
34 explicit affected versions
8 explicit affected versions
5 explicit affected versions
3 explicit affected versions
8 explicit affected versions
10 explicit affected versions
7 explicit affected versions
37 explicit affected versions
13 explicit affected versions
13 explicit affected versions
7 explicit affected versions
8 explicit affected versions
10 explicit affected versions
12 explicit affected versions
3 explicit affected versions
44 explicit affected versions
16 explicit affected versions
3 explicit affected versions
13 explicit affected versions
26 explicit affected versions
45 explicit affected versions
37 explicit affected versions
42 explicit affected versions
14 explicit affected versions
38 explicit affected versions
9 explicit affected versions
11 explicit affected versions
30 explicit affected versions
13 explicit affected versions
8 explicit affected versions
7 explicit affected versions
4 explicit affected versions
1 explicit affected versions
13 explicit affected versions
43 explicit affected versions
10 explicit affected versions
8 explicit affected versions
36 explicit affected versions
14 explicit affected versions
4 explicit affected versions
78 explicit affected versions
11 explicit affected versions
1 explicit affected versions
10 explicit affected versions
30 explicit affected versions
03 / CONNECTIONS
Connected vulnerabilities
04 / EVIDENCE
Source records
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: kernfs: Relax constraint in draining guard The active reference lifecycle provides the break/unbreak mechanism but the active reference is not truly active after unbreak -- callers don't use it afterwards but it's important for proper pairing of kn->active counting. Assuming this mechanism is in place, the WARN check in kernfs_should_drain_open_files() is too sensitive -- it may transiently catch those (rightful) callers between kernfs_unbreak_active_protection() and kernfs_put_active() as found out by Chen Ridong: kernfs_remove_by_name_ns kernfs_get_active // active=1 __kernfs_remove // active=0x80000002 kernfs_drain ... wait_event //waiting (active == 0x80000001) kernfs_break_active_protection // active = 0x80000001 // continue kernfs_unbreak_active_protection // active = 0x80000002 ... kernfs_should_drain_open_files // warning occurs kernfs_put_active To avoid the false positives (mind panic_on_warn) remove the check altogether. (This is meant as quick fix, I think active reference break/unbreak may be simplified with larger rework.)
05 / REFERENCES
Further evidence
- https://git.kernel.org/linus/071d8e4c2a3b0999a9b822e2eb8854784a350f8a
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/071d8e4c2a3b0999a9b822e2eb8854784a350f8a
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2d6a67c2b3b87808a347dc1047b520a9dd177a4f
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6bfb154f95d5f0ab7ed056f23aba8c1a94cb3927
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6c81f1c7812c61f187bed1b938f1d2e391d503ab
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/72275c888f8962b406ee9c6885c79bf68cca5a63
- https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-38282
- https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-7769-1
- https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-7769-2
- https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-7769-3
- https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-7770-1
- https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-7771-1
- https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-7789-1
- https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-7789-2
- https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-8028-1
- https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-8028-2
- https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-8028-3
- https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-8028-4
- https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-8028-5
- https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-8028-6
- https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-8028-7
- https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-8028-8
- https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-8031-1
- https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-8031-2
- https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-8031-3
- https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-8052-1
- https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-8052-2
- https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-8074-1
- https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-8074-2
- https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-8126-1
- https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38282