Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-38679

Memory Safety in Linux Kernel 4.13 – 6.1.149

Published
04 September 2025
Modified
30 July 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.3
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:L/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0016 6th percentile
Risk Priority 52 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-2025-38679 is a high-severity Out-of-bounds Read (CWE-125) vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 7.3 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); 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 SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SA-8 (Security and Privacy Engineering Principles) — 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: media: venus: Fix OOB read due to missing payload bound check Currently, The event_seq_changed() handler processes a variable number of properties sent by the firmware. The number of properties is…

more

indicated by the firmware and used to iterate over the payload. However, the payload size is not being validated against the actual message length. This can lead to out-of-bounds memory access if the firmware provides a property count that exceeds the data available in the payload. Such a condition can result in kernel crashes or potential information leaks if memory beyond the buffer is accessed. Fix this by properly validating the remaining size of the payload before each property access and updating bounds accordingly as properties are parsed. This ensures that property parsing is safely bounded within the received message buffer and protects against malformed or malicious firmware behavior.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
T1211 Exploitation for Stealth Stealth
Adversaries may exploit vulnerabilities to evade detection by hiding activity, suppressing logging, or operating within trusted or unmonitored components.
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-39685Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-39817Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-37879Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2024-26970Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-38714Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-39806Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-38320Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-39839Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-38004Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-38497Same product: Debian Debian Linux

Affected Assets

linux
linux kernel
4.13 — 6.1.149 · 6.2 — 6.6.103 · 6.7 — 6.12.43
debian
debian linux
11.0

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation directly finds out-of-bounds read flaws through static analysis, fuzzing, and dynamic bounds checks.

Secure engineering principles require bounds checking and memory-safe constructs that stop out-of-bounds reads from being introduced.

Process isolation confines the effects of an out-of-bounds read to the compromised process.

Input validation rejects malformed indices or lengths that would otherwise cause reads outside buffer bounds.

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.

finds

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
finds

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