Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-38027

Memory Safety in Linux Kernel 5.17 – 6.1.140

Published
18 June 2025
Modified
17 June 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.1
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0017 6th percentile
Risk Priority 55 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-38027 is a high-severity Out-of-bounds Read (CWE-125) vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 7.1 (High).

Operationally, ranked at the 6th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SI-16 (Memory Protection) and SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: regulator: max20086: fix invalid memory access max20086_parse_regulators_dt() calls of_regulator_match() using an array of struct of_regulator_match allocated on the stack for the matches argument. of_regulator_match() calls devm_of_regulator_put_matches(), which calls devres_alloc() to…

more

allocate a struct devm_of_regulator_matches which will be de-allocated using devm_of_regulator_put_matches(). struct devm_of_regulator_matches is populated with the stack allocated matches array. If the device fails to probe, devm_of_regulator_put_matches() will be called and will try to call of_node_put() on that stack pointer, generating the following dmesg entries: max20086 6-0028: Failed to read DEVICE_ID reg: -121 kobject: '\xc0$\xa5\x03' (000000002cebcb7a): is not initialized, yet kobject_put() is being called. Followed by a stack trace matching the call flow described above. Switch to allocating the matches array using devm_kcalloc() to avoid accessing the stack pointer long after it's out of scope. This also has the advantage of allowing multiple max20086 to probe without overriding the data stored inside the global of_regulator_match.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-38320Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-38483Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-38714Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-39710Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2024-35967Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-38530Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-38482Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-39853Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2023-6040Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-37780Same product: Debian Debian Linux

Affected Assets

linux
linux kernel
6.15 · 5.17 — 6.1.140 · 6.2 — 6.6.92 · 6.7 — 6.12.30
debian
debian linux
11.0

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
  • SI-16 Memory Protection
  • SA-8 Security and Privacy Engineering Principles
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)
  • SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation
Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

prevent

Directly enforces memory protection mechanisms that block invalid accesses to out-of-scope stack pointers as described in the max20086 stack-allocation flaw.

prevent

Requires application of secure engineering principles such as proper dynamic memory management and avoidance of stack-based structures with extended lifetimes.

detect

Mandates developer testing and evaluation capable of discovering memory-safety defects like the use-after-scope pointer dereference fixed by devm_kcalloc().

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure-development practices such as bounds checking and memory-safe languages directly prevent out-of-bounds reads.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability scanning and recording can discover instances of out-of-bounds reads after code is deployed.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Routine patching replaces vulnerable code containing out-of-bounds read flaws.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

detects

Security testing in development and acceptance includes fuzzing and static analysis that detect out-of-bounds read defects before release.

A.8.15 Logging partial match
detects

Logging can record evidence of an out-of-bounds read but does not prevent the weakness itself.

prevents

Secure development life cycle mandates input validation and bounds checking that directly prevent out-of-bounds reads.

prevents

Application security requirements include explicit bounds and memory-safety specifications that mitigate buffer over-reads.

prevents

Secure system architecture and engineering principles require memory-safe design patterns and runtime protections against out-of-bounds access.

prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe pointer arithmetic and mandate bounds-checked reads, eliminating CWE-125.

References