Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:HSummary
CVE-2025-38364 is a medium-severity NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476) vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 5.5 (Medium).
Operationally, ranked at the 5th 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 SC-24 (Fail in Known State) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-22639
Vulnerability Data
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: maple_tree: fix MA_STATE_PREALLOC flag in mas_preallocate() Temporarily clear the preallocation flag when explicitly requesting allocations. Pre-existing allocations are already counted against the request through mas_node_count_gfp(), but the allocations will not…
more
happen if the MA_STATE_PREALLOC flag is set. This flag is meant to avoid re-allocating in bulk allocation mode, and to detect issues with preallocation calculations. The MA_STATE_PREALLOC flag should also always be set on zero allocations so that detection of underflow allocations will print a WARN_ON() during consumption. User visible effect of this flaw is a WARN_ON() followed by a null pointer dereference when subsequent requests for larger number of nodes is ignored, such as the vma merge retry in mmap_region() caused by drivers altering the vma flags (which happens in v6.6, at least)
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly mitigates the null-pointer dereference (CWE-476) that occurs after the preallocation flag mishandling by enforcing memory protection safeguards.
Addresses the erroneous WARN_ON() path and subsequent ignored allocations in mas_preallocate() by requiring robust error handling for invalid internal state.
Ensures the kernel fails in a known safe state rather than dereferencing a null pointer when MA_STATE_PREALLOC logic under-counts node allocations.
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 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.
Security testing can detect NULL dereference defects before release.
Secure SDLC mandates defensive coding practices that can prevent NULL dereferences.
Application security requirements can specify input validation and pointer-safety rules.
Secure architecture principles encourage defensive design that avoids unsafe pointer use.
Secure coding standards directly require NULL-pointer checks and safe dereference patterns.