Incorrect Privilege Assignment Affecting kernel-debuginfo package, versions <1:6.1.147-172.266.amzn2023


Severity

Recommended
high

Based on Amazon Linux security rating.

Threat Intelligence

EPSS
0.03% (6th percentile)

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  • Snyk IDSNYK-AMZN2023-KERNELDEBUGINFO-12561626
  • published9 Sept 2025
  • disclosed25 Jul 2025

Introduced: 25 Jul 2025

CVE-2025-38396  (opens in a new tab)
CWE-266  (opens in a new tab)

How to fix?

Upgrade Amazon-Linux:2023 kernel-debuginfo to version 1:6.1.147-172.266.amzn2023 or higher.
This issue was patched in ALAS2023-2025-1144.

NVD Description

Note: Versions mentioned in the description apply only to the upstream kernel-debuginfo package and not the kernel-debuginfo package as distributed by Amazon-Linux. See How to fix? for Amazon-Linux:2023 relevant fixed versions and status.

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

fs: export anon_inode_make_secure_inode() and fix secretmem LSM bypass

Export anon_inode_make_secure_inode() to allow KVM guest_memfd to create anonymous inodes with proper security context. This replaces the current pattern of calling alloc_anon_inode() followed by inode_init_security_anon() for creating security context manually.

This change also fixes a security regression in secretmem where the S_PRIVATE flag was not cleared after alloc_anon_inode(), causing LSM/SELinux checks to be bypassed for secretmem file descriptors.

As guest_memfd currently resides in the KVM module, we need to export this symbol for use outside the core kernel. In the future, guest_memfd might be moved to core-mm, at which point the symbols no longer would have to be exported. When/if that happens is still unclear.

CVSS Base Scores

version 3.1