A publicly available proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit for CVE-2025-38352, a race-condition bug in the Linux kernel’s POSIX CPU timers code, has been posted online, security researchers and vendors say. The vulnerability can cause the kernel to access memory after it has been freed, and on vulnerable systems it has the potential to let a local user gain elevated privileges.
The PoC which is being shared under the name “Chronomaly”, appeared on public code hosts and in write-ups this week.
The published material and the PoC’s README note that the flaw has been observed in limited, targeted attacks against some 32-bit Android devices, and that the exploit demonstrates how a carefully timed race can corrupt kernel memorycorrupt kernel memory and lead to privilege escalation on affected kernels.
U.S. cyber authorities had already added CVE-2025-38352 to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog earlier this year after evidence of active exploitation was found, a designation that draws attention to the vulnerability for organizations responsible for critical systems.
Kernel maintainers and several vendors have issued fixes. Ubuntu’s advisory and related vendor notices describe a code change that removes the race between the timer handler and timer deletion routines, and distribution-level updates addressing the flaw are available. System operators are being advised to apply vendor kernel updates as soon as possible.
Security teams that cannot immediately apply a vendor kernel update should limit local, unprivileged access to sensitive systems and monitor for unexpected kernel crashes or unusual process behavior, both of which can indicate exploitation attempts.
Public reporting on the PoC emphasizes that the bug requires local access to trigger; it is not reported as a remote-network exploit.
Researchers and incident responders note two points worth keeping in mind: public PoC code accelerates defensive analysis (for example, building detections and test cases), but it also lowers the barrier for opportunistic attackers.
Security teams should treat the publication as a prompt to verify patch status across their estate and to follow vendor guidance.
What you can do now is install the kernel updates provided by your OS vendor, restrict unprivileged local access where possible, and watch system logs for kernel crashes or unexpected privilege changes.
Do not download or run exploit code found on public repositories unless you are working in an isolated, authorized research environment.
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