CVE-2025-38675: xfrm: state: initialize state_ptrs earlier in xfrm_state_find

mediumCVSS 4.7CVE-2025-38675

CSIRTS triage

vendor: Linux product: Linux Kernel Memory corruption

What: The xfrm state initialization fails to set state_ptrs early enough, leading to potential memory safety issues during state lookup.
Who is affected: Systems running Linux kernel with xfrm (IPsec transform) subsystem enabled.
Urgency: Medium priority; not yet exploited but affects core networking infrastructure with CVSS 4.7.
Action: Apply kernel patch to initialize state_ptrs earlier in xfrm_state_find function.

AI-assisted analysis generated from the source advisory — verify against the original.

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Details

Source: Microsoft Security Response Center (INTL · vendor-psirt · site)
Severity: medium — CVSS 4.7
Published: 2026-08-06
Exploitation: Not in CISA KEV at last sync

Original advisory: https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2025-38675

Exploitation outlook

EPSS (FIRST.org) estimates each CVE’s probability of exploitation in the next 30 days — here is the CSIRTS.com read on those numbers.

Low exploitation riskCVE-2025-386750.11% 30-day exploitation probability — currently an unlikely target, but scores change as exploit code circulates. Riskier than 2% of all EPSS-scored CVEs.

Referenced CVEs

CVE	CSIRTS overview	External
CVE-2025-38675	coverage & exploitation status	NVD · CVE.org

Same CVEs, other sources

How other CERTs, PSIRTs and databases cover the vulnerabilities in this advisory.

high[UPDATE] [high] Linux Kernel: Multiple vulnerabilities allow denial of service and privilege escalationcert-bund

Recent advisories for xfrm

A cluster of recent advisories against the same product widens the attack surface — attackers routinely chain freshly published CVEs on one product, so review these together.

criticalCVE-2026-72463: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: xfrm: Fix dev use-after-fr…nvd · 2026-08-15
criticalCVE-2026-72451: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: xfrm: Fix xfrm state cache…nvd · 2026-08-15
highCVE-2026-72450: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: xfrm: validate selector fa…nvd · 2026-08-15
criticalCVE-2026-72137: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: xfrm: nat_keepalive: avoid…nvd · 2026-08-15
highCVE-2026-72136: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: xfrm: xfrm_interface: requ…nvd · 2026-08-15
mediumCVE-2026-68426: xfrm: fix stale skb->prev after async crypto steals a GSO segmentmsrc · 2026-08-11