Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-38636

Memory Safety in Linux Kernel 6.0 – 6.16.1

Published
22 August 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 0.0015 5th percentile
Risk Priority 55 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-38636 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 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 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

Vulnerability Data

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: rv: Use strings in da monitors tracepoints Using DA monitors tracepoints with KASAN enabled triggers the following warning: BUG: KASAN: global-out-of-bounds in do_trace_event_raw_event_event_da_monitor+0xd6/0x1a0 Read of size 32 at addr ffffffffaada8980…

more

by task ... Call Trace: <TASK> [...] do_trace_event_raw_event_event_da_monitor+0xd6/0x1a0 ? __pfx_do_trace_event_raw_event_event_da_monitor+0x10/0x10 ? trace_event_sncid+0x83/0x200 trace_event_sncid+0x163/0x200 [...] The buggy address belongs to the variable: automaton_snep+0x4e0/0x5e0 This is caused by the tracepoints reading 32 bytes __array instead of __string from the automata definition. Such strings are literals and reading 32 bytes ends up in out of bound memory accesses (e.g. the next automaton's data in this case). The error is harmless as, while printing the string, we stop at the null terminator, but it should still be fixed. Use the __string facilities while defining the tracepoints to avoid reading out of bound memory.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-53272Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
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CVE-2023-2860Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2026-23076Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2026-45943Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2026-31442Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2024-42118Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2024-46747Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2025-71116Same product: Linux Linux Kernel

Affected Assets

linux
linux kernel
6.0 — 6.16.1

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
  • SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation
  • SA-15 Development Process, Standards, and Tools
  • SI-16 Memory Protection
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

prevent

Developer testing with dynamic analysis tools such as KASAN directly detects the out-of-bounds __array reads in tracepoint definitions that cause this CWE-125 flaw.

prevent

Requiring secure development tools and coding standards (e.g., __string facilities instead of fixed-size arrays for literals) prevents the unsafe tracepoint implementation.

prevent

Kernel memory-protection mechanisms can limit the impact of the global-out-of-bounds read even if the coding defect remains.

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