CVE-2025-38711: Debian Linux

Medium severity, CVSS 5.5. EPSS: 0.1% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: smb/server: avoid deadlock when linking with ReplaceIfExists If smb2_create_link() is called with ReplaceIfExists set and the name does exist then a deadlock will happen. ksmbd_vfs_kern_path_locked() will return with success and the parent directory will be locked. ksmbd_vfs_remove_file() will then remove the file. ksmbd_vfs_link() will then be called while the parent is still locked. It will try to lock the same parent and will deadlock. This patch moves the ksmbd_vfs_kern_path_unlock() call to *before* ksmbd_vfs_link() and then simplifies the code, removing the file_present flag variable.

Affected products

• Debian Debian Linux: version 11.0 only
• Linux Linux Kernel: from 5.15, before 5.15.190 (fixed in 5.15.190); from 5.16, before 6.1.149 (fixed in 6.1.149); from 6.2, before 6.6.103 (fixed in 6.6.103); from 6.7, before 6.12.43 (fixed in 6.12.43); from 6.13, before 6.15.11 (fixed in 6.15.11); from 6.16, before 6.16.2 (fixed in 6.16.2)

Published 2025-09-04. Last modified 2026-06-17.