Host crash via uninitialized SVM teardown
Published Jul 10, 2025 · Updated May 11, 2026
Use of uninitialized SVM state in Linux 6.15 through 6.15.2 allows local users to crash the host during Xe VM creation. In xe_vm_create(), an error path can call xe_vm_close_and_put(), which invokes xe_svm_fini() before the fault-mode VM's SVM state has been initialized and dereferences a null pointer. Exploitation requires local low-privilege access, the Xe graphics driver, fault-mode VM creation, and an allocation failure; the bounded impact is a host crash.
Summary
What happened
Use of uninitialized SVM state in Linux 6.15 through 6.15.2 allows local users to crash the host during Xe VM creation. In xe_vm_create(), an error path can call xe_vm_close_and_put(), which invokes xe_svm_fini() before the fault-mode VM's SVM state has been initialized and dereferences a null pointer. Exploitation requires local low-privilege access, the Xe graphics driver, fault-mode VM creation, and an allocation failure; the bounded impact is a host crash.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-38309
- Published
- Jul 10, 2025
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-908, T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jul 10, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- 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?
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- Affected versionversion=6.15
- Affected versionversion=6fd979c2f33150e8261d87d2946f94f66f22ddaa <8cf8cde41ad01150afbd1327ad1942387787f7fd
- Affected versionversion=6fd979c2f33150e8261d87d2946f94f66f22ddaa <f5e6a6a8aa46d44ec7a240766cf3b7dd077718b9
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
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Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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