CVE-2025-38136
Linux Kernel 3.0 – 5.4.295
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:HSummary
CVE-2025-38136 is a medium-severity Use of Uninitialized Resource (CWE-908) vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 5.5 (Medium).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique OS Credential Dumping (T1003); 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.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-19807
Vulnerability Data
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: usb: renesas_usbhs: Reorder clock handling and power management in probe Reorder the initialization sequence in `usbhs_probe()` to enable runtime PM before accessing registers, preventing potential crashes due to uninitialized clocks.…
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Currently, in the probe path, registers are accessed before enabling the clocks, leading to a synchronous external abort on the RZ/V2H SoC. The problematic call flow is as follows: usbhs_probe() usbhs_sys_clock_ctrl() usbhs_bset() usbhs_write() iowrite16() <-- Register access before enabling clocks Since `iowrite16()` is performed without ensuring the required clocks are enabled, this can lead to access errors. To fix this, enable PM runtime early in the probe function and ensure clocks are acquired before register access, preventing crashes like the following on RZ/V2H: [13.272640] Internal error: synchronous external abort: 0000000096000010 [#1] PREEMPT SMP [13.280814] Modules linked in: cec renesas_usbhs(+) drm_kms_helper fuse drm backlight ipv6 [13.289088] CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 195 Comm: (udev-worker) Not tainted 6.14.0-rc7+ #98 [13.296640] Hardware name: Renesas RZ/V2H EVK Board based on r9a09g057h44 (DT) [13.303834] pstate: 60400005 (nZCv daif +PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) [13.310770] pc : usbhs_bset+0x14/0x4c [renesas_usbhs] [13.315831] lr : usbhs_probe+0x2e4/0x5ac [renesas_usbhs] [13.321138] sp : ffff8000827e3850 [13.324438] x29: ffff8000827e3860 x28: 0000000000000000 x27: ffff8000827e3ca0 [13.331554] x26: ffff8000827e3ba0 x25: ffff800081729668 x24: 0000000000000025 [13.338670] x23: ffff0000c0f08000 x22: 0000000000000000 x21: ffff0000c0f08010 [13.345783] x20: 0000000000000000 x19: ffff0000c3b52080 x18: 00000000ffffffff [13.352895] x17: 0000000000000000 x16: 0000000000000000 x15: ffff8000827e36ce [13.360009] x14: 00000000000003d7 x13: 00000000000003d7 x12: 0000000000000000 [13.367122] x11: 0000000000000000 x10: 0000000000000aa0 x9 : ffff8000827e3750 [13.374235] x8 : ffff0000c1850b00 x7 : 0000000003826060 x6 : 000000000000001c [13.381347] x5 : 000000030d5fcc00 x4 : ffff8000825c0000 x3 : 0000000000000000 [13.388459] x2 : 0000000000000400 x1 : 0000000000000000 x0 : ffff0000c3b52080 [13.395574] Call trace: [13.398013] usbhs_bset+0x14/0x4c [renesas_usbhs] (P) [13.403076] platform_probe+0x68/0xdc [13.406738] really_probe+0xbc/0x2c0 [13.410306] __driver_probe_device+0x78/0x120 [13.414653] driver_probe_device+0x3c/0x154 [13.418825] __driver_attach+0x90/0x1a0 [13.422647] bus_for_each_dev+0x7c/0xe0 [13.426470] driver_attach+0x24/0x30 [13.430032] bus_add_driver+0xe4/0x208 [13.433766] driver_register+0x68/0x130 [13.437587] __platform_driver_register+0x24/0x30 [13.442273] renesas_usbhs_driver_init+0x20/0x1000 [renesas_usbhs] [13.448450] do_one_initcall+0x60/0x1d4 [13.452276] do_init_module+0x54/0x1f8 [13.456014] load_module+0x1754/0x1c98 [13.459750] init_module_from_file+0x88/0xcc [13.464004] __arm64_sys_finit_module+0x1c4/0x328 [13.468689] invoke_syscall+0x48/0x104 [13.472426] el0_svc_common.constprop.0+0xc0/0xe0 [13.477113] do_el0_svc+0x1c/0x28 [13.480415] el0_svc+0x30/0xcc [13.483460] el0t_64_sync_handler+0x10c/0x138 [13.487800] el0t_64_sync+0x198/0x19c [13.491453] Code: 2a0103e1 12003c42 12003c63 8b010084 (79400084) [13.497522] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Developer testing and evaluation (including static analysis) can find uses of uninitialized resources after they are coded.
Requiring documented development standards and tools can mandate initialization checks and safe patterns that stop the weakness from being introduced.
Engineering principles can require explicit resource initialization before use, structurally avoiding uninitialized access.
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.
Secure SDLC activities such as static analysis and code review directly prevent use of uninitialized resources while also addressing many other weaknesses.
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.
Security testing in development and acceptance can detect uninitialized resource usage through dynamic analysis and fuzzing.
Secure development life cycle mandates initialization checks and static analysis that can catch uninitialized resource use.
Application security requirements can specify mandatory initialization of variables and resources before use.
Secure system architecture and engineering principles include defensive coding practices that prevent use of uninitialized memory or objects.
Secure coding standards directly require explicit initialization of all variables and resources, substantially mitigating CWE-908.