Vulnerability in Kernel (CVE-2025-38628)

Summary

Vulnerability in Kernel (CVE-2025-38628). Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure. Mitigation: upgrade to 6.12.42, 6.15.10, 6.16.1 or later.

Original description

The description as published by the source.

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

vdpa/mlx5: Fix release of uninitialized resources on error path

The commit in the fixes tag made sure that mlx5_vdpa_free()
is the single entrypoint for removing the vdpa device resources
added in mlx5_vdpa_dev_add(), even in the cleanup path of
mlx5_vdpa_dev_add().

This means that all functions from mlx5_vdpa_free() should be able to
handle uninitialized resources. This was not the case though:
mlx5_vdpa_destroy_mr_resources() and mlx5_cmd_cleanup_async_ctx()
were not able to do so. This caused the splat below when adding
a vdpa device without a MAC address.

This patch fixes these remaining issues:

Makes mlx5_vdpa_destroy_mr_resources() return early if called on
uninitialized resources.
Moves mlx5_cmd_init_async_ctx() early on during device addition
because it can't fail. This means that mlx5_cmd_cleanup_async_ctx()
also can't fail. To mirror this, move the call site of
mlx5_cmd_cleanup_async_ctx() in mlx5_vdpa_free().

An additional comment was added in mlx5_vdpa_free() to document
the expectations of functions called from this context.

Splat:

mlx5_core 0000:b5:03.2: mlx5_vdpa_dev_add:3950:(pid 2306) warning: No mac address provisioned?
------------[ cut here ]------------
WARNING: CPU: 13 PID: 2306 at kernel/workqueue.c:4207 __flush_work+0x9a/0xb0
[...]
Call Trace:

? __try_to_del_timer_sync+0x61/0x90
? __timer_delete_sync+0x2b/0x40
mlx5_vdpa_destroy_mr_resources+0…

Source: OSV.dev (Open Source Vulnerabilities) NVD OSV

Auto-generated summary

Assembled by SecPulse from the source data (CVSS, CWE, affected versions) using templates — no AI involved. Check the original description and references below for exact details.

A vulnerability tracked as CVE-2025-38628 has been found in Kernel.
Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure.
What to do: upgrade Kernel to 6.12.42, 6.15.10, 6.16.1 or later.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "Kernel CVE-2025-38628" on the vendor's site.

CVE-2025-38628 (Kernel)
Patched: 6.12.42, 6.15.10, 6.16.1 — apply immediately
Plan: 1) Audit SBOM/dependencies, 2) Stage→prod upgrade, 3) Add WAF/proxy monitoring on affected endpoints, 4) Hunt IOCs in logs.
Refs: see the GHSA / vendor advisory / patched release linked on this page.

❓ What is the problem

A vulnerability (unclassified) exists in Kernel.

📍 Affected scope

Check the vendor advisory for the affected versions of Kernel.

🔥 Severity

Severity: ?. Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure.

🔧 How to fix

Update to 6.12.42, 6.15.10, 6.16.1.

🛡️ Workaround

Until the patch is applied: disable the affected feature, apply WAF rules, or restrict access via network ACLs.

🔍 Detection

Search webserver/proxy logs for unusual request patterns matching this CVE's known IOCs. Run grep -r 'Kernel' . against your dependency files (package-lock.json, requirements.txt, go.sum) to find affected services.

Response actions

Concrete steps and command examples for SOC/SRE teams to execute in order

1
Identify exposure identify
```
grep -r 'Kernel' . | grep -v node_modules
```
リポジトリと本番環境の依存ファイル (package-lock.json / requirements.txt / go.sum / Gemfile.lock 等) で Kernel を grep し、稼働しているサービス・バージョンを把握する。
2
Apply patch patch
```
Upgrade Kernel to 6.12.42, 6.15.10, 6.16.1
```
ステージング環境で 6.12.42, 6.15.10, 6.16.1 に上げて回帰テスト → 本番反映。回帰テストはアプリの主要ハッピーパスを含めること。
3
Post-deployment verification verify
```
Confirm patched version is live in production
```
パッチ適用後、ステージングで PoC または同等の悪用パターンを再現して脆弱性が閉じたことを確認。本番ではアクセスログ・WAF でアラート再発が無いか継続監視。

Affected packages

Linux Kernel

[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"6.12.0"},{"fixed":"6.12.42"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"6.13.0"},{"fixed":"6.15.10"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"6.16.0"},{"fixed":"6.16.1"}]}]

Fix status by distribution

Fixed packages published by each distribution for this CVE

BellSoft Alpaquita BELL-CVE-2025-38628 linux-lts Fixed in: 6.12.44-r0
Debian DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38628 linux Fixed in: 6.12.43-1
Ubuntu UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38628 linux-hwe-edge