CVE-2025-38235

Local denial of service via backlight reference leak

Published Jul 6, 2025 · Updated May 11, 2026

Denial of service in Linux 6.15 through 6.15.4 allows local users to interrupt service through appletb-kbd device probing. The appletb_kbd_probe function obtains appletb_backlight with backlight_device_get_by_name, which increments the device reference count, but omits the matching put_device call on removal and probe-failure paths. Reachability requires the driver to find that backlight device; accumulated unreleased references exhaust kernel resources and interrupt the host.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.13%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Denial of service in Linux 6.15 through 6.15.4 allows local users to interrupt service through appletb-kbd device probing. The appletb_kbd_probe function obtains appletb_backlight with backlight_device_get_by_name, which increments the device reference count, but omits the matching put_device call on removal and probe-failure paths. Reachability requires the driver to find that backlight device; accumulated unreleased references exhaust kernel resources and interrupt the host.

The record

CVE
CVE-2025-38235
Published
Jul 6, 2025
Updated
May 11, 2026
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
T1499.004
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jul 6, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. May 11, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=6.15
  2. Affected versionversion=93a0fc48948107e0cc34e1de22c3cb363a8f2783 <4540e41e753a7d69ecd3f5bad51fe620205c3a18
  3. Affected versionversion=93a0fc48948107e0cc34e1de22c3cb363a8f2783 <751d5437112a3f387de4ef6d2d1c131068ff7627

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=6.15; version=93a0fc48948107e0cc34e1de22c3cb363a8f2783 <4540e41e753a7d69ecd3f5bad51fe620205c3a18; version=93a0fc48948107e0cc34e1de22c3cb363a8f2783 <751d5437112a3f387de4ef6d2d1c131068ff7627

Published CVSS scores

5.5NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

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No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

T1499.004Application or System Exploitation

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

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Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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