CVE-2025-38320

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

arm64/ptrace: Fix stack-out-of-bounds read in regs_get_kernel_stack_nth()

KASAN reports a stack-out-of-bounds read in regs_get_kernel_stack_nth().

Call Trace: [ 97.283505] BUG: KASAN: stack-out-of-bounds in regs_get_kernel_stack_nth+0xa8/0xc8 [ 97.284677] Read of size 8 at addr ffff800089277c10 by task 1.sh/2550 [ 97.285732] [ 97.286067] CPU: 7 PID: 2550 Comm: 1.sh Not tainted 6.6.0+ #11 [ 97.287032] Hardware name: linux,dummy-virt (DT) [ 97.287815] Call trace: [ 97.288279] dump_backtrace+0xa0/0x128 [ 97.288946] show_stack+0x20/0x38 [ 97.289551] dump_stack_lvl+0x78/0xc8 [ 97.290203] print_address_description.constprop.0+0x84/0x3c8 [ 97.291159] print_report+0xb0/0x280 [ 97.291792] kasan_report+0x84/0xd0 [ 97.292421] __asan_load8+0x9c/0xc0 [ 97.293042] regs_get_kernel_stack_nth+0xa8/0xc8 [ 97.293835] process_fetch_insn+0x770/0xa30 [ 97.294562] kprobe_trace_func+0x254/0x3b0 [ 97.295271] kprobe_dispatcher+0x98/0xe0 [ 97.295955] kprobe_breakpoint_handler+0x1b0/0x210 [ 97.296774] call_break_hook+0xc4/0x100 [ 97.297451] brk_handler+0x24/0x78 [ 97.298073] do_debug_exception+0xac/0x178 [ 97.298785] el1_dbg+0x70/0x90 [ 97.299344] el1h_64_sync_handler+0xcc/0xe8 [ 97.300066] el1h_64_sync+0x78/0x80 [ 97.300699] kernel_clone+0x0/0x500 [ 97.301331] __arm64_sys_clone+0x70/0x90 [ 97.302084] invoke_syscall+0x68/0x198 [ 97.302746] el0_svc_common.constprop.0+0x11c/0x150 [ 97.303569] do_el0_svc+0x38/0x50 [ 97.304164] el0_svc+0x44/0x1d8 [ 97.304749] el0t_64_sync_handler+0x100/0x130 [ 97.305500] el0t_64_sync+0x188/0x190 [ 97.306151] [ 97.306475] The buggy address belongs to stack of task 1.sh/2550 [ 97.307461] and is located at offset 0 in frame: [ 97.308257] __se_sys_clone+0x0/0x138 [ 97.308910] [ 97.309241] This frame has 1 object: [ 97.309873] [48, 184) args [ 97.309876] [ 97.310749] The buggy address belongs to the virtual mapping at [ 97.310749] [ffff800089270000, ffff800089279000) created by: [ 97.310749] dup_task_struct+0xc0/0x2e8 [ 97.313347] [ 97.313674] The buggy address belongs to the physical page: [ 97.314604] page: refcount:1 mapcount:0 mapping:0000000000000000 index:0x0 pfn:0x14f69a [ 97.315885] flags: 0x15ffffe00000000(node=1|zone=2|lastcpupid=0xfffff) [ 97.316957] raw: 015ffffe00000000 0000000000000000 dead000000000122 0000000000000000 [ 97.318207] raw: 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 00000001ffffffff 0000000000000000 [ 97.319445] page dumped because: kasan: bad access detected [ 97.320371] [ 97.320694] Memory state around the buggy address: [ 97.321511] ffff800089277b00: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 [ 97.322681] ffff800089277b80: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 [ 97.323846] >ffff800089277c00: 00 00 f1 f1 f1 f1 f1 f1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 [ 97.325023] ^ [ 97.325683] ffff800089277c80: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 f3 f3 f3 f3 f3 f3 f3 [ 97.326856] ffff800089277d00: f3 f3 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

This issue seems to be related to the behavior of some gcc compilers and was also fixed on the s390 architecture before:

commit d93a855c31b7 (s390/ptrace: Avoid KASAN false positives in regs_get_kernel_stack_nth())

As described in that commit, regs_get_kernel_stack_nth() has confirmed that addr is on the stack, so reading the value at *addr should be allowed. Use READ_ONCE_NOCHECK() helper to silence the KASAN check for this case.

[will: Use *addr as the argument to READ_ONCE_NOCHECK()]

Weakness

The product reads data past the end, or before the beginning, of the intended buffer.

Affected Software

Potential Mitigations

• Assume all input is malicious. Use an “accept known good” input validation strategy, i.e., use a list of acceptable inputs that strictly conform to specifications. Reject any input that does not strictly conform to specifications, or transform it into something that does.
• When performing input validation, consider all potentially relevant properties, including length, type of input, the full range of acceptable values, missing or extra inputs, syntax, consistency across related fields, and conformance to business rules. As an example of business rule logic, “boat” may be syntactically valid because it only contains alphanumeric characters, but it is not valid if the input is only expected to contain colors such as “red” or “blue.”
• Do not rely exclusively on looking for malicious or malformed inputs. This is likely to miss at least one undesirable input, especially if the code’s environment changes. This can give attackers enough room to bypass the intended validation. However, denylists can be useful for detecting potential attacks or determining which inputs are so malformed that they should be rejected outright.
• To reduce the likelihood of introducing an out-of-bounds read, ensure that you validate and ensure correct calculations for any length argument, buffer size calculation, or offset. Be especially careful of relying on a sentinel (i.e. special character such as NUL) in untrusted inputs.

Related Attack Patterns

• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/540.html

References

• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/01f91d415a8375d85e0c7d3615cd4a168308bb7c
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/21da6d3561f373898349ca7167c9811c020da695
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/22f935bc86bdfbde04009f05eee191d220cd8c89
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/39dfc971e42d886e7df01371cd1bef505076d84c
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/422e565b7889ebfd9c8705a3fc786642afe61fca
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/64773b3ea09235168a549a195cba43bb867c4a17
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/67abac27d806e8f9d4226ec1528540cf73af673a
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/92750bfe7b0d8dbcaf578c091a65eda1c5f9ad38
• https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/10/msg00007.html
• https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/10/msg00008.html