CVE-2025-38516: debian linux Null Dereference — Fix

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: pinctrl: qcom: msm: mark certain pins as invalid for interrupts On some platforms, the UFS-reset pin has no interrupt logic in TLMM but is nevertheless registered as a GPIO in the kernel. This enables the user-space to trigger a BUG() in the pinctrl-msm driver by running, for example: `gpiomon -c 0 113` on RB2. The exact culprit is requesting pins whose intr_detection_width setting is not 1 or 2 for interrupts. This hits a BUG() in msm_gpio_irq_set_type(). Potentially crashing the kernel due to an invalid request from user-space is not optimal, so let's go through the pins and mark those that would fail the check as invalid for the irq chip as we should not even register them as available irqs. This function can be extended if we determine that there are more corner-cases like this.

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CVSS v3.1 Score

5.5

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Weakness Type (CWE)

CWE-476 CWE-476

Affected Products

Vendor	Product	Versions
linux	linux_kernel	3.14 — 5.4.296
linux	linux_kernel	5.5 — 5.10.240
linux	linux_kernel	5.11 — 5.15.189
linux	linux_kernel	5.16 — 6.1.146
linux	linux_kernel	6.2 — 6.6.99
linux	linux_kernel	6.7 — 6.12.39
linux	linux_kernel	6.13 — 6.15.7
linux	linux_kernel	All
linux	linux_kernel	All
linux	linux_kernel	All
linux	linux_kernel	All
linux	linux_kernel	All
debian	debian_linux	All

References

Advisories & Patches

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1d57f7132662e96aace3b8a000616efde289aae1 https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/275605a8b48002fe98675a5c06f3e39c09067ff2 https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3f8fc02c2582c1dfad1785e9c7bc8b4e1521af0a https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6a89563ccf9cd0d745e2291302878a061508573f https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/93712205ce2f1fb047739494c0399a26ea4f0890 https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/97c9c7daeeb00c6e1d5e84084041f79c2d2dce22 https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cb4b08a095b1fa4b3fca782757517e4e9a917d8e https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cc145e02d6b8494c48f91958d52fa76b7e577f7b

Other References

https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/10/msg00007.html https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/10/msg00008.html

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2025-38516? +

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: pinctrl: qcom: msm: mark certain pins as invalid for interrupts On some platforms, the UFS-reset pin has no interrupt logic in TLMM but is nevertheless registered as a GPIO in the kernel. This enables the user-space to trigger a BUG() in the pinctrl-msm driver by running, for example: `gpiomon -c 0 113` on RB2. The exact culprit is requesting pins whose intr_detection_width setting is not 1 or 2 for interrupts. This hits a BUG() in msm_gpio_irq_set_type(). Potentially crashing the kernel due to an invalid request from user-space is not optimal, so let's go through the pins and mark those that would fail the check as invalid for the irq chip as we should not even register them as available irqs. This function can be extended if we determine that there are more corner-cases like this. It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.5 (MEDIUM).

How severe is CVE-2025-38516? +

CVE-2025-38516 has a CVSS v3.1 score of 5.5 out of 10, rated MEDIUM. This is a medium-severity vulnerability that should be remediated as part of regular maintenance.

What products are affected by CVE-2025-38516? +

CVE-2025-38516 affects products from debian, linux, specifically: debian_linux, linux_kernel. Check the affected products table above for specific version ranges.

How do I check if I'm vulnerable to CVE-2025-38516? +

You can use Secably's free Website Scanner to check your website for known vulnerabilities. For infrastructure scanning, use the Port Scanner to identify exposed services that may be affected. Check the vendor advisories linked above for specific patch and version information.

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