CVE-2025-38610

Local system crash via unchecked CPU lookup

Published Aug 19, 2025 · Updated May 11, 2026

NULL pointer dereference in Linux kernel 5.16 and later affected branches allows local users to crash the system when a CPU becomes unavailable. get_pd_power_uw() passes a NULL result from em_cpu_get() to em_span_cpus(), which dereferences it instead of using the existing zero-power fallback. Reachability requires local low-privileged access and runtime CPU unavailability in the DTPM CPU powercap path; the documented consequence is an availability-only system crash.

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

What happened

NULL pointer dereference in Linux kernel 5.16 and later affected branches allows local users to crash the system when a CPU becomes unavailable. get_pd_power_uw() passes a NULL result from em_cpu_get() to em_span_cpus(), which dereferences it instead of using the existing zero-power fallback. Reachability requires local low-privileged access and runtime CPU unavailability in the DTPM CPU powercap path; the documented consequence is an availability-only system crash.

The record

CVE
CVE-2025-38610
Published
Aug 19, 2025
Updated
May 11, 2026
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
CWE-476, T1499
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Aug 19, 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=5.16
  2. Affected versionversion=eb82bace893169b319c563b7f813c58a0a5a9f76 <27914f2b795e2b58e9506f281dcdd98fef09d3c2
  3. Affected versionversion=eb82bace893169b319c563b7f813c58a0a5a9f76 <27e0318f0ea69fcfa32228847debc384ade14578
  4. Affected versionversion=eb82bace893169b319c563b7f813c58a0a5a9f76 <2fd001a0075ac01dc64a28a8e21226b3d989a91d
  5. Affected versionversion=eb82bace893169b319c563b7f813c58a0a5a9f76 <46dc57406887dd02565cb264224194a6776d882b
  6. Affected versionversion=eb82bace893169b319c563b7f813c58a0a5a9f76 <8374ac7d69a57d737e701a851ffe980a0d27d3ad
  7. Affected versionversion=eb82bace893169b319c563b7f813c58a0a5a9f76 <c6ec27091cf5ac05094c1fe3a6ce914cf711a37c

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=5.16; version=eb82bace893169b319c563b7f813c58a0a5a9f76 <27914f2b795e2b58e9506f281dcdd98fef09d3c2; version=eb82bace893169b319c563b7f813c58a0a5a9f76 <27e0318f0ea69fcfa32228847debc384ade14578; version=eb82bace893169b319c563b7f813c58a0a5a9f76 <2fd001a0075ac01dc64a28a8e21226b3d989a91d; version=eb82bace893169b319c563b7f813c58a0a5a9f76 <46dc57406887dd02565cb264224194a6776d882b; version=eb82bace893169b319c563b7f813c58a0a5a9f76 <8374ac7d69a57d737e701a851ffe980a0d27d3ad; version=eb82bace893169b319c563b7f813c58a0a5a9f76 <c6ec27091cf5ac05094c1fe3a6ce914cf711a37c

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

CWE-476NULL Pointer Dereference
T1499Endpoint Denial of Service

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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