CVE-2025-71238VulnerabilityPublished 6 May 2026Updated 14 Oct 2026

Red Hat Security Advisory: kernel security update

Affects Linux kernelSource GCVE Database

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Mentioned vulnerabilities

Authoritative record:CVE-2025-71238· High

Not known to be exploited · fixed in Red Hat package updates : patch Linux kernel soon.

Data as of 29 Oct 2026, 19:04 UTC

Severity

High

Rated by Threat Radar · No CVSS score from NVD or the CNA

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 10% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in f2bbb4db0e4a4fbd5e649c0b5d8733f61da24720, c2c68225b1456f4d0d393b5a8778d51bb0d5b1d0, 708003e1bc857dd014d4c44278d7d77c26f91b1c +5

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 4 Mar 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 29 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponized: A Metasploit exploit module or Exploit-DB entry exists (Metasploit scanner modules do not count), or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade to a fixed release listed under Affected software.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ 1b81e7f3019d632a707e07927e946ffbbc102910, < f2bbb4db0e4a4fbd5e649c0b5d8733f61da24720	Fixed in f2bbb4db0e4a4fbd5e649c0b5d8733f61da24720
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ 1b81e7f3019d632a707e07927e946ffbbc102910, < c2c68225b1456f4d0d393b5a8778d51bb0d5b1d0	Fixed in c2c68225b1456f4d0d393b5a8778d51bb0d5b1d0
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ 1b81e7f3019d632a707e07927e946ffbbc102910, < 708003e1bc857dd014d4c44278d7d77c26f91b1c	Fixed in 708003e1bc857dd014d4c44278d7d77c26f91b1c
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ 1b81e7f3019d632a707e07927e946ffbbc102910, < 871f6236da96c4a9712b8a29d7f555f767a47e95	Fixed in 871f6236da96c4a9712b8a29d7f555f767a47e95
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ 1b81e7f3019d632a707e07927e946ffbbc102910, < 74e7458537cd9349cf019862e51491f670871707	Fixed in 74e7458537cd9349cf019862e51491f670871707
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ 1b81e7f3019d632a707e07927e946ffbbc102910, < 057a5bdc481e58ab853117254867ffb22caf9f6e	Fixed in 057a5bdc481e58ab853117254867ffb22caf9f6e

AI-suggested

Red Hat has released updated kernel packages for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.4 Extended Update Support that fix these vulnerabilities. Users should apply the available kernel updates as described in the Red Hat advisory (https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258) and reboot their systems to ensure the fixes take effect. No additional mitigations are indicated beyond applying the official update and rebooting.

Description

The kernel packages contain the Linux kernel, the core of any Linux operating system. Security Fix(es): * kernel: ALSA: aloop: Fix racy access at PCM trigger (CVE-2026-23191) * kernel: Linux kernel (qla2xxx): Double free vulnerability leads to denial of service and potential privilege escalation. (CVE-2025-71238) * kernel: Linux kernel KVM: Privilege escalation or denial of service due to improper shadow page table entry handling (CVE-2026-23401) * kernel: crypto: algif_aead - Revert to operating out-of-place (CVE-2026-31431) * kernel: can: raw: fix ro->uniq use-after-free in raw_rcv() (CVE-2026-31532) For more details about the security issue(s), including the impact, a CVSS score, acknowledgments, and other related information, refer to the CVE page(s) listed in the References section.

Impact

The vulnerabilities addressed can lead to denial of service conditions and potential privilege escalation on affected Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.4 systems. Specifically, the double free in the qla2xxx driver and improper shadow page table handling in KVM could allow attackers to escalate privileges or disrupt system stability. Other fixes address race conditions and use-after-free bugs that could also impact system reliability and security.

Summary

This Red Hat security advisory (RHSA-2026:13932) covers multiple vulnerabilities in the Linux kernel for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.4 EUS. Key issues include CVE-2025-71238, a double free vulnerability in the qla2xxx driver that can cause denial of service and potential privilege escalation; CVE-2026-23401, a privilege escalation or denial of service vulnerability in the KVM subsystem due to improper handling of shadow page table entries; and other fixes such as race condition in ALSA aloop, reverting crypto algif_aead to out-of-place operation, and a use-after-free in the CAN raw socket code. The advisory provides updated kernel packages and requires rebooting the system to apply the fixes.

CWE-672Operation on a Resource after Expiration or Release (opens in a new tab)
Class weakness
The product uses, accesses, or otherwise operates on a resource after that resource has been expired, released, or revoked.
CWE-367Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: Medium
The product checks the state of a resource before using that resource, but the resource's state can change between the check and the use in a way that invalidates the results of the check.
Implementation
The most basic advice for TOCTOU vulnerabilities is to not perform a check before the use. This does not resolve the underlying issue of the execution of a function on a resource whose state and identity cannot be assured, but it does help to limit the false sense of security given by the check.
Implementation
When the file being altered is owned by the current user and group, set the effective gid and uid to that of the current user and group when executing this statement.
Architecture and Design
Limit the interleaving of operations on files from multiple processes.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Abuse Case (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V1.11.3 (opens in a new tab)
V11.1.6 (opens in a new tab)
V1.11.2 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Leveraging Race Conditions via Symbolic Links (opens in a new tab)
Leveraging Time-of-Check and Time-of-Use (TOCTOU) Race Conditions (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).
CWE-416Use After Free (opens in a new tab)
Variant weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #7
The product reuses or references memory after it has been freed. At some point afterward, the memory may be allocated again and saved in another pointer, while the original pointer references a location somewhere within the new allocation. Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory "belongs" to the code that operates on the new pointer.
Architecture and Design · Language Selection
Choose a language that provides automatic memory management.
Implementation · Attack Surface Reduction
When freeing pointers, be sure to set them to NULL once they are freed. However, the utilization of multiple or complex data structures may lower the usefulness of this strategy.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
XML Security (opens in a new tab)
Mass Assignment (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V13.3.1 (opens in a new tab)
V5.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
V5.1.3 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).
CWE-1288Improper Validation of Consistency within Input (opens in a new tab)
Base weakness
The product receives a complex input with multiple elements or fields that must be consistent with each other, but it does not validate or incorrectly validates that the input is actually consistent.
Implementation · Input Validation
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.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
XML Security (opens in a new tab)
Mass Assignment (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V13.3.1 (opens in a new tab)
V5.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
V5.1.3 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).
CWE-366Race Condition within a Thread (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: Medium
If two threads of execution use a resource simultaneously, there exists the possibility that resources may be used while invalid, in turn making the state of execution undefined.
Architecture and Design
Use locking functionality. This is the recommended solution. Implement some form of locking mechanism around code which alters or reads persistent data in a multithreaded environment.
Architecture and Design
Create resource-locking validation checks. If no inherent locking mechanisms exist, use flags and signals to enforce your own blocking scheme when resources are being used by other threads of execution.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Abuse Case (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V1.11.2 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Leveraging Time-of-Check and Time-of-Use (TOCTOU) Race Conditions (opens in a new tab)
Leveraging Race Conditions (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).
CWE-131Incorrect Calculation of Buffer Size (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: High
The product does not correctly calculate the size to be used when allocating a buffer.
Implementation
When allocating a buffer for the purpose of transforming, converting, or encoding an input, allocate enough memory to handle the largest possible encoding. For example, in a routine that converts "&" characters to "&" for HTML entity encoding, the output buffer needs to be at least 5 times as large as the input…
Implementation
Understand the programming language's underlying representation and how it interacts with numeric calculation (CWE-681). Pay close attention to byte size discrepancies, precision, signed/unsigned distinctions, truncation, conversion and casting between types, "not-a-number" calculations, and how the language handles…
Implementation · Input Validation
Perform input validation on any numeric input by ensuring that it is within the expected range. Enforce that the input meets both the minimum and maximum requirements for the expected range.
Attack patterns
Overflow Buffers (opens in a new tab)
Buffer Overflow via Parameter Expansion (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 7 Aug 2026, 02:38 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-672, CWE-367, CWE-416 +3

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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