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CVE · referencelatest edition

Reference page — cumulative record through Wednesday, August 19, 2026 UTC. Reference pages update as the archive grows; only dated daily editions are immutable pages of record.

CVE-2025-38434MEDIUM
Linux Linux — Revert "riscv: Define TASK_SIZE_MAX for __access_ok()"
  AV  AC  PR  UI  S  C  I  A   CVSS    EPSS   %ile   KEV
   L   L   L   N  U  N  N  H    5.5   .0017    6.7     —
AFFECTED
  Product  Versions                                    Fixed
  Linux    ad5643cf2f699989daa85d909403febd6712fccb –  —
  Linux    6.10 –                                      6.12.36
TIMELINE
  Apr 16  Reserved by Linux
  Jul 25  Published (CNA: Linux)
  Jul 30  RESCORED — CVE-2025-38434 (Linux). CVSS 7.8 → 5.5 (NVD).
CNA: Linux · CVSS v3.1 · 3 references · NVD status: Modified

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: Revert "riscv: Define TASK_SIZE_MAX for __access_ok()" This reverts commit ad5643cf2f69 ("riscv: Define TASK_SIZE_MAX for __access_ok()"). This commit changes TASK_SIZE_MAX to be LONG_MAX to optimize access_ok(), because the previous TASK_SIZE_MAX (default to TASK_SIZE) requires some computation. The reasoning was that all user addresses are less than LONG_MAX, and all kernel addresses are greater than LONG_MAX. Therefore access_ok() can filter kernel addresses. Addresses between TASK_SIZE and LONG_MAX are not valid user addresses, but access_ok() let them pass. That was thought to be okay, because they are not valid addresses at hardware level. Unfortunately, one case is missed: get_user_pages_fast() happily accepts addresses between TASK_SIZE and LONG_MAX. futex(), for instance, uses get_user_pages_fast(). This causes the problem reported by Robert [1]. Therefore, revert this commit. TASK_SIZE_MAX is changed to the default: TASK_SIZE. This unfortunately reduces performance, because TASK_SIZE is more expensive to compute compared to LONG_MAX. But correctness first, we can think about optimization later, if required.

Lifecycle

Complete event history — 3 events, chronological
DateEventDetail
April 16, 2025ReservedReserved by Linux
July 25, 2025PublishedPublished (CNA: Linux)
July 30, 2026RESCOREDRESCORED — CVE-2025-38434 (Linux). CVSS 7.8 → 5.5 (NVD).

Affected

Affected products and packages — 2 rows
VendorProduct / PackageEcosystemVersion introducedFixed
LinuxLinuxad5643cf2f699989daa85d909403febd6712fccb
LinuxLinux6.106.12.36

References (3)

Related

Authoritative record: CVE-2025-38434 at cve.org

Vendors: linux

About this page

This is a reference page, not a dated page of record. It assembles the complete lifecycle of CVE-2025-38434 from the CVE Program record, NVD enrichment, the CISA KEV catalog, EPSS, and OSV advisories. The box score's numbers (CVSS, EPSS, KEV status) are current as of Wednesday, August 19, 2026 UTC and are re-derived as the archive grows; only dated daily editions are immutable pages of record. The authoritative source for this identifier is cve.org.