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In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been...

Unreviewed Published Jul 28, 2025 to the GitHub Advisory Database • Updated Nov 3, 2025

Package

No package listedSuggest a package

Affected versions

Unknown

Patched versions

Unknown

Description

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

smb: client: fix use-after-free in crypt_message when using async crypto

The CVE-2024-50047 fix removed asynchronous crypto handling from
crypt_message(), assuming all crypto operations are synchronous.
However, when hardware crypto accelerators are used, this can cause
use-after-free crashes:

crypt_message()
// Allocate the creq buffer containing the req
creq = smb2_get_aead_req(..., &req);

// Async encryption returns -EINPROGRESS immediately
rc = enc ? crypto_aead_encrypt(req) : crypto_aead_decrypt(req);

// Free creq while async operation is still in progress
kvfree_sensitive(creq, ...);

Hardware crypto modules often implement async AEAD operations for
performance. When crypto_aead_encrypt/decrypt() returns -EINPROGRESS,
the operation completes asynchronously. Without crypto_wait_req(),
the function immediately frees the request buffer, leading to crashes
when the driver later accesses the freed memory.

This results in a use-after-free condition when the hardware crypto
driver later accesses the freed request structure, leading to kernel
crashes with NULL pointer dereferences.

The issue occurs because crypto_alloc_aead() with mask=0 doesn't
guarantee synchronous operation. Even without CRYPTO_ALG_ASYNC in
the mask, async implementations can be selected.

Fix by restoring the async crypto handling:

  • DECLARE_CRYPTO_WAIT(wait) for completion tracking
  • aead_request_set_callback() for async completion notification
  • crypto_wait_req() to wait for operation completion

This ensures the request buffer isn't freed until the crypto operation
completes, whether synchronous or asynchronous, while preserving the
CVE-2024-50047 fix.

References

Published by the National Vulnerability Database Jul 28, 2025
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Jul 28, 2025
Last updated Nov 3, 2025

Severity

Unknown

EPSS score

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

This score estimates the probability of this vulnerability being exploited within the next 30 days. Data provided by FIRST.
(12th percentile)

Weaknesses

No CWEs

CVE ID

CVE-2025-38488

GHSA ID

GHSA-8gh3-6693-hwj4

Source code

No known source code

Dependabot alerts are not supported on this advisory because it does not have a package from a supported ecosystem with an affected and fixed version.

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