Vulnerability in Kernel (CVE-2025-38632)

Summary

Vulnerability in Kernel (CVE-2025-38632). Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure. Mitigation: upgrade to 6.6.102, 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:

pinmux: fix race causing mux_owner NULL with active mux_usecount

commit 5a3e85c3c397 ("pinmux: Use sequential access to access
desc->pinmux data") tried to address the issue when two client of the
same gpio calls pinctrl_select_state() for the same functionality, was
resulting in NULL pointer issue while accessing desc->mux_owner.
However, issue was not completely fixed due to the way it was handled
and it can still result in the same NULL pointer.

The issue occurs due to the following interleaving:

 cpu0 (process A)                   cpu1 (process B)

  pin_request() {                   pin_free() {

                                     mutex_lock()
                                     desc->mux_usecount--; //becomes 0
                                     ..
                                     mutex_unlock()

mutex_lock(desc->mux)
desc->mux_usecount++; // becomes 1
desc->mux_owner = owner;
mutex_unlock(desc->mux)

                                     mutex_lock(desc->mux)
                                     desc->mux_owner = NULL;
                                     mutex_unlock(desc->mux)

This sequence leads to a state where the pin appears to be in use
(mux_usecount == 1) but has no owner (mux_owner == NULL), which can
cause NULL pointer on next pin_request on the same pin.

Ensure that updates to mux_usecount and mux_owner are performed
atomically un…

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-2025-38632 has been found in Kernel.
Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure.
What to do: upgrade Kernel to 6.6.102, 6.12.42, 6.15.10, 6.16.1 or later.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "Kernel CVE-2025-38632" on the vendor's site.

CVE-2025-38632 (Kernel)
Patched: 6.6.102, 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 6.6.102, 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 6.6.102, 6.12.42, 6.15.10, 6.16.1
```
ステージング環境で 6.6.102, 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":"0"},{"fixed":"6.6.102"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"6.7.0"},{"fixed":"6.12.42"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"6.13.0"},{"fixed":"6.15.10"},{"fixed":"6.16.1"}]}]

Fix status by distribution

Fixed packages published by each distribution for this CVE

BellSoft Alpaquita BELL-CVE-2025-38632 linux-lts Fixed in: 6.18.35-r1
Debian DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38632 linux Fixed in: 6.12.43-1
Ubuntu UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38632 linux-hwe-edge