CVE-2025-38168 [Medium] | Security Vulnerability in Linux Kernel

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: perf: arm-ni: Unregister PMUs on probe failure When a resource allocation fails in one clock domain of an NI device, we need to properly roll back all previously registered perf PMUs in other clock domains of the same device. Otherwise, it can lead to kernel panics. Calling arm_ni_init+0x0/0xff8 [arm_ni] @ 2374 arm-ni ARMHCB70:00: Failed to request PMU region 0x1f3c13000 arm-ni ARMHCB70:00: probe with driver arm-ni failed with error -16 list_add corruption: next->prev should be prev (fffffd01e9698a18), but was 0000000000000000. (next=ffff10001a0decc8). pstate: 6340009 (nZCv daif +PAN -UAO +TCO +DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) pc : list_add_valid_or_report+0x7c/0xb8 lr : list_add_valid_or_report+0x7c/0xb8 Call trace: __list_add_valid_or_report+0x7c/0xb8 perf_pmu_register+0x22c/0x3a0 arm_ni_probe+0x554/0x70c [arm_ni] platform_probe+0x70/0xe8 really_probe+0xc6/0x4d8 driver_probe_device+0x48/0x170 __driver_attach+0x8e/0x1c0 bus_for_each_dev+0x64/0xf0 driver_add+0x138/0x260 bus_add_driver+0x68/0x138 __platform_driver_register+0x2c/0x40 arm_ni_init+0x14/0x2a [arm_ni] do_init_module+0x36/0x298 ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- Kernel panic - not syncing: Oops - BUG: Fatal exception SMP: stopping secondary CPUs

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2026-06-15	0.02%	0.14%	+0.12%
2	2025-07-03	—	0.02%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2026-06-15

0.02%

0.14%

+0.12%

2025-07-03

—

0.02%

—

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability	Impact	Score source
5.5	3.1	MEDIUM	`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:L) They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by. Attack complexity (AC:L) Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup. Privileges required (PR:L) A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin. User interaction (UI:N) Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping. Scope (S:U) Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems. Confidentiality (C:N) Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way. Integrity (I:N) Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged. Availability (A:H) Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.	1.8	3.6	[email protected]

Base score

Version

Severity

Vector

Exploitability

Impact

Score source

5.5

3.1

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand

Attack vector (AV:L): They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L): Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L): A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N): Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U): Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N): Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N): Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H): Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.

1.8

3.6

[email protected]

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-38168

vendor	priority	summary	link
`debian`	unimportant	CVE-2025-38168 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5.	https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-38168
`redhat`	low	—	https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38168
`suse`	medium	CVE-2025-38168 severity moderate: SUSE including 94 source package names (cluster-md-kmp-64kb-6.12.0-160000.6.1, cluster-md-kmp-default, …), 512 product×package rows across 91 product lines (Image SLES-Azure-3P, Image SLES-Azure-Basic, … (91 product lines)): Known Not Affected 314, Fixed 177, First Fixed 21.	https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38168/
`ubuntu`	medium	CVE-2025-38168 medium priority: Ubuntu including 158 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1551 status rows across 10 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1145, ignored 168, needed 108, released 107, not-affected 21, needs-triage 2.	https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-38168

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-38168

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
linux	linux_kernel	>= 6.12, < 6.12.34	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 6.13, < 6.15.3	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::

References for CVE-2025-38168

URL	Tags
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/72caf9886e9c1731cf7bfe3eabc308b9268b21d6	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7e958e116e3be05a1f869b5a885fc5d674c7725f	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7f57afde6a44d9e044885e1125034edd4fda02e8	Patch

URL

CVE-2025-38168 | perf: arm-ni: Unregister PMUs on probe failure

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2025-38168

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-38168

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-38168

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-38168

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-38168

References for CVE-2025-38168