Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-38100

Memory Safety in Linux Kernel 5.5 – 5.10.239

Published
03 July 2025
Modified
17 June 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 5.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0018 7th percentile
Risk Priority 41 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2025-38100 is a medium-severity NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476) vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 5.5 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Endpoint Denial of Service (T1499); ranked at the 7th 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 SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SA-15 (Development Process, Standards, and Tools) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: x86/iopl: Cure TIF_IO_BITMAP inconsistencies io_bitmap_exit() is invoked from exit_thread() when a task exists or when a fork fails. In the latter case the exit_thread() cleans up resources which were allocated…

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during fork(). io_bitmap_exit() invokes task_update_io_bitmap(), which in turn ends up in tss_update_io_bitmap(). tss_update_io_bitmap() operates on the current task. If current has TIF_IO_BITMAP set, but no bitmap installed, tss_update_io_bitmap() crashes with a NULL pointer dereference. There are two issues, which lead to that problem: 1) io_bitmap_exit() should not invoke task_update_io_bitmap() when the task, which is cleaned up, is not the current task. That's a clear indicator for a cleanup after a failed fork(). 2) A task should not have TIF_IO_BITMAP set and neither a bitmap installed nor IOPL emulation level 3 activated. This happens when a kernel thread is created in the context of a user space thread, which has TIF_IO_BITMAP set as the thread flags are copied and the IO bitmap pointer is cleared. Other than in the failed fork() case this has no impact because kernel threads including IO workers never return to user space and therefore never invoke tss_update_io_bitmap(). Cure this by adding the missing cleanups and checks: 1) Prevent io_bitmap_exit() to invoke task_update_io_bitmap() if the to be cleaned up task is not the current task. 2) Clear TIF_IO_BITMAP in copy_thread() unconditionally. For user space forks it is set later, when the IO bitmap is inherited in io_bitmap_share(). For paranoia sake, add a warning into tss_update_io_bitmap() to catch the case, when that code is invoked with inconsistent state.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1499 Endpoint Denial of Service Impact
Adversaries may perform Endpoint Denial of Service (DoS) attacks to degrade or block the availability of services to users.
T1499.004 Application or System Exploitation Impact
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities that can cause an application or system to crash and deny availability to users.
T1489 Service Stop Impact
Adversaries may stop or disable services on a system to render those services unavailable to legitimate users.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-38328Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-39675Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-39838Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-38362Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-38569Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-39676Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2024-26771Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-38167Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-38337Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-38147Same product: Debian Debian Linux

Affected Assets

linux
linux kernel
5.5 — 5.10.239 · 5.11 — 5.15.186 · 5.16 — 6.1.142
debian
debian linux
11.0

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation (including static analysis) directly finds null-dereference bugs before deployment.

Documented development standards and tools can enforce null-safety rules and safe pointer usage.

Engineering principles can mandate defensive coding such as explicit null checks before dereference.

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 SDLC practices (static analysis, code review, safe coding standards) directly prevent NULL dereference bugs during development.

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.

finds

Security testing can detect NULL dereference defects before release.

prevents

Secure SDLC mandates defensive coding practices that can prevent NULL dereferences.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify input validation and pointer-safety rules.

prevents

Secure architecture principles encourage defensive design that avoids unsafe pointer use.

prevents

Secure coding standards directly require NULL-pointer checks and safe dereference patterns.

References