In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: drm/imagination: Fix kernel crash when hard resetting the GPU The GPU hard reset sequence calls pm_runtime_force_suspend() and pm_runtime_force_resume(), which according to their documentation should only be used during system-wide PM transitions to sleep states. The main issue though is that depending on some internal runtime PM state as seen by pm_runtime_force_suspend() (whether the usage count is <= 1), pm_runtime_force_resume() might not resume the device unless needed. If that happens, the runtime PM resume callback pvr_power_device_resume() is not called, the GPU clocks are not re-enabled, and the kernel crashes on the next attempt to access GPU registers as part of the power-on sequence. Replace calls to pm_runtime_force_suspend() and pm_runtime_force_resume() with direct calls to the driver's runtime PM callbacks, pvr_power_device_suspend() and pvr_power_device_resume(), to ensure clocks are re-enabled and avoid the kernel crash.
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-38521 is rated Low Risk (29.3/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.02%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.
Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.
EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).
| # | Date | Old EPSS score | New EPSS score | Delta (New - Old) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2025-08-16 | — | 0.02% | — |
Full EPSS history (1 record total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7.1 | 3.1 | HIGH |
|
1.8 | 5.2 | [email protected] |
| vendor | priority | summary | link |
|---|---|---|---|
debian
|
unimportant | CVE-2025-38521 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-2025-38521 |
redhat
|
low | — | https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38521 |
suse
|
medium | CVE-2025-38521 severity moderate: SUSE including 374 source package names (13.2-9.1:libsqlite3-0-3.49.1-1.1, 2.1.3-6.31:libsqlite3-0-3.49.1-1.1, …), 829 product×package rows across 122 product lines (Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/baremetal-os-container, Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/base-os-container, … (122 product lines)): Fixed 299, Known Not Affected 274, Known Affected 231, First Fixed 25. | https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38521/ |
ubuntu
|
medium | CVE-2025-38521 medium priority: Ubuntu including 158 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1414 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1017, ignored 161, released 133, not-affected 96, needed 3, needs-triage 2, pending 2. | https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-38521 |
| Vendor | Product | Version | Raw CPE |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux | linux_kernel | >= 6.8, < 6.12.39 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | >= 6.13, < 6.15.7 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.16 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.16:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.16 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.16:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.16 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.16:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.16 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.16:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.16 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.16:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:* |