CVE-2025-38306: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: fs/fhandle.c: fix a race in call of has_locked_children() may_decode_fh() is calling has

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: fs/fhandle.c: fix a race in call of has_locked_children() may_decode_fh() is calling has_l

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: fs/fhandle.c: fix a race in call of has_locked_children() may_decode_fh() is calling has_locked_children() while holding no locks. That's an oopsable race... The rest of the callers are safe since they are holding namespace_sem and are guaranteed a positive refcount on the mount in question. Rename the current has_locked_children() to __has_locked_children(), make it static and switch the fs/namespace.c users to it. Make has_locked_children() a wrapper for __has_locked_children(), calling the latter under read_seqlock_excl(&mount_lock).

Description from the National Vulnerability Database, published by 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

What it means for a small business

Linux is on the computers, phones or browsers your team uses every day. Turn on automatic updates and restart: most of these fixes only take effect after a restart.

How likely is an attack? The Exploit Prediction Scoring System, run by FIRST (the global association of security response teams), puts the odds of this one being exploited in the next 30 days at 0.14%, higher than 3% of CVEs. That’s low, but low isn’t zero, and the odds jump the day someone publishes an exploit. Scored October 29, 2026, updated daily.

Check your own setup

Website check: reads what your site runs from the outside (WordPress version, plugins it can see, old server software) and matches it against this database.
Server check: what your web server says about itself, and whether that version has known flaws.

Sources

Part of the Huttenlocher Technologies vulnerability database, refreshed twice a day from CISA and the NVD. The title, category and plain-language guidance are ours; check the linked record before acting on a detail. This is general guidance, not a review of your systems.

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