CVE-2025-38052VulnerabilityPublished 17 Sep 2025Updated 18 Sep 2026

Red Hat Security Advisory: kpatch-patch-4_18_0-372_118_1, kpatch-patch-4_18_0-372_131_1, kpatch-patch-4_18_0-372_137_1, kpatch-patch-4_18_0-372_145_1, and kpatch-patch-4_18_0-372_158_1 security update

Affects Red HatSource GCVE Database

Mentioned vulnerabilities

CVE-2025-38352

Not known to be exploited : upgrade to 4.18.0-372.160.0.el8_6 soon.

Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 UTC

Severity

High

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

EPSS: 0.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 45% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 4.18.0-372.160.0.el8_6

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 17 Sep 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: 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 2026-10-25.

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.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC 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 Red Hat to 4.18.0-372.160.0.el8_6.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Red Hat Product Security Red Hat	Affected >=4.18.0-372.118.1.el8_6 <4.18.0-372.160.0.el8_6	Fixed in 4.18.0-372.160.0.el8_6

AI-suggested

Red Hat has released official patches as kpatch live patch modules for kernel 4.18.0-372.118.1.el8_6. Users should apply the updated kpatch modules as provided in the advisory and reboot the system to ensure the patches take effect. Detailed update instructions are available at https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258. No additional mitigation steps are indicated by the vendor.

Description

Red Hat issued a security advisory for multiple kpatch live patch modules targeting kernel version 4.18.0-372.118.1.el8_6. The update addresses two vulnerabilities: a slab-use-after-free read in the tipc_aead_encrypt_done function (CVE-2025-38052) and a race condition between handle_posix_cpu_timers() and posix_cpu_timer_del() (CVE-2025-38352). These issues affect Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 and related variants. The advisory rates the impact as Important and requires a system reboot to apply the update.

Impact

The vulnerabilities fixed include a use-after-free read which can lead to memory corruption and a race condition that could cause inconsistent timer handling. These issues could potentially be exploited to cause system instability or other unintended behavior. The advisory does not report known exploits in the wild. The impact is rated Important by Red Hat, indicating a significant security risk if unpatched.

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-362Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization ('Race Condition') (opens in a new tab)
Class weaknessLikelihood of exploit: MediumOWASP Top 10 A06:2025: Insecure Design (opens in a new tab)
The product contains a concurrent code sequence that requires temporary, exclusive access to a shared resource, but a timing window exists in which the shared resource can be modified by another code sequence operating concurrently.
Architecture and Design
In languages that support it, use synchronization primitives. Only wrap these around critical code to minimize the impact on performance.
Architecture and Design
Use thread-safe capabilities such as the data access abstraction in Spring.
Architecture and Design
Minimize the usage of shared resources in order to remove as much complexity as possible from the control flow and to reduce the likelihood of unexpected conditions occurring.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Abuse Case (opens in a new tab)
Secure Design Principles (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).

References

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 19 Sep 2026, 02:14 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-416, CWE-362

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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