Security Flaw in Linux Kernel Affecting KVM Guest Memory Management

CVE-2025-38396

What is CVE-2025-38396?

A vulnerability present in the Linux Kernel affects KVM guest memory management, specifically regarding the handling of anonymous inodes. The issue arises from an improper security context initialization, allowing for security checks to be potentially bypassed. This vulnerability particularly impacts the secret memory (secretmem) functionality, where the S_PRIVATE flag was not correctly cleared post-inode allocation. The introduced fixes ensure that the function responsible for creating secure anonymous inodes exports the necessary symbols, thus reinforcing the security framework surrounding guest memory operations.

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