CVE-2025-38345

What it is

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ACPICA: fix acpi operand cache leak in dswstate.c ACPICA commit 987a3b5cf7175916e2a4b6ea5b8e70f830dfe732 I found an ACPI cache leak in ACPI early termination and boot continuing case. When early termination occurs due to malicious ACPI table, Linux kernel terminates ACPI function and continues to boot process. While kernel terminates ACPI function, kmem_cache_destroy() reports Acpi-Operand cache leak. Boot log of ACPI operand cache leak is as follows: >[ 0.585957] ACPI: Added _OSI(Module Device) >[ 0.587218] ACPI: Added _OSI(Processor Device) >[ 0.588530] ACPI: Added _OSI(3.0 _SCP Extensions) >[ 0.589790] ACPI: Added _OSI(Processor Aggregator Device) >[ 0.591534] ACPI Error: Illegal I/O port address/length above 64K: C806E00000004002/0x2 (20170303/hwvalid-155) >[ 0.594351] ACPI Exception: AE_LIMIT, Unable to initialize fixed events (20170303/evevent-88) >[ 0.597858] ACPI: Unable to start the ACPI Interpreter >[ 0.599162] ACPI Error: Could not remove SCI handler (20170303/evmisc-281) >[ 0.601836] kmem_cache_destroy Acpi-Operand: Slab cache still has objects >[ 0.603556] CPU: 0 PID: 1 Comm: swapper/0 Not tainted 4.12.0-rc5 #26 >[ 0.605159] Hardware name: innotek gmb_h virtual_box/virtual_box, BIOS virtual_box 12/01/2006 >[ 0.609177] Call Trace: >[ 0.610063] ? dump_stack+0x5c/0x81 >[ 0.611118] ? kmem_cache_destroy+0x1aa/0x1c0 >[ 0.612632] ? acpi_sleep_proc_init+0x27/0x27 >[ 0.613906] ? acpi_os_delete_cache+0xa/0x10 >[ 0.617986] ? acpi_ut_delete_caches+0x3f/0x7b >[ 0.619293] ? acpi_terminate+0xa/0x14 >[ 0.620394] ? acpi_init+0x2af/0x34f >[ 0.621616] ? __class_create+0x4c/0x80 >[ 0.623412] ? video_setup+0x7f/0x7f >[ 0.624585] ? acpi_sleep_proc_init+0x27/0x27 >[ 0.625861] ? do_one_initcall+0x4e/0x1a0 >[ 0.627513] ? kernel_init_freeable+0x19e/0x21f >[ 0.628972] ? rest_init+0x80/0x80 >[ 0.630043] ? kernel_init+0xa/0x100 >[ 0.631084] ? ret_from_fork+0x25/0x30 >[ 0.633343] vgaarb: loaded >[ 0.635036] EDAC MC: Ver: 3.0.0 >[ 0.638601] PCI: Probing PCI hardware >[ 0.639833] PCI host bridge to bus 0000:00 >[ 0.641031] pci_bus 0000:00: root bus resource [io 0x0000-0xffff] > ... Continue to boot and log is omitted ... I analyzed this memory leak in detail and found acpi_ds_obj_stack_pop_and_ delete() function miscalculated the top of the stack. acpi_ds_obj_stack_push() function uses walk_state->operand_index for start position of the top, but acpi_ds_obj_stack_pop_and_delete() function considers index 0 for it. Therefore, this causes acpi operand memory leak. This cache leak causes a security threat because an old kernel (<= 4.9) shows memory locations of kernel functions in stack dump. Some malicious users could use this information to neutralize kernel ASLR. I made a patch to fix ACPI operand cache leak.

At a glance

Exploitability

Can be exploited locally on the machine with a low-privilege account. High risk of service disruption.

Exploit odds

0.2% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days (EPSS).

Fix

A patch, advisory or fixed version is referenced. Upgrade or apply it.

Timeline

1. 2025-07-10 09:15 UTC PublishedDisclosed publicly on CVE.org and NVD
2. 2026-11-05 21:18 UTC Last updatedMost recent change to the record

Why it ranks here

• Exploited in the wild: no, CISA does not list it.
• Exploit odds: 0.2% in the next 30 days (EPSS).
• Severity: 5.5 MEDIUM (CVSS).
• Fix: a patch or advisory is linked.

Details

Published

2025-07-10 09:15 UTC

Last modified

2026-11-05 21:18 UTC

Exploit probability

0.2% · EPSS, next 30 days

Weakness

CWE-401

Record status

Analyzed

Affected

• Linux Kernel < 5.4.295
• Linux Kernel < 5.10.239
• Linux Kernel < 5.15.186
• Linux Kernel < 6.1.142
• Linux Kernel < 6.6.95
• Linux Kernel < 6.12.35
• Linux Kernel < 6.15.4
• Debian Linux 11.0

Attack profile CVSS 3.1 · 5.5

Attack vector

Local

Complexity

Low

Privileges needed

Low

User interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

None

Integrity

None

Availability

High

Is it in your code?

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