CVE-2025-38538 | dmaengine: nbpfaxi: Fix memory corruption in probe()

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: dmaengine: nbpfaxi: Fix memory corruption in probe() The nbpf->chan[] array is allocated earlier in the nbpf_probe() function and it has "num_channels" elements. These three loops iterate one element farther than they should and corrupt memory. The changes to the second loop are more involved. In this case, we're copying data from the irqbuf[] array into the nbpf->chan[] array. If the data in irqbuf[i] is the error IRQ then we skip it, so the iterators are not in sync. I added a check to ensure that we don't go beyond the end of the irqbuf[] array. I'm pretty sure this can't happen, but it seemed harmless to add a check. On the other hand, after the loop has ended there is a check to ensure that the "chan" iterator is where we expect it to be. In the original code we went one element beyond the end of the array so the iterator wasn't in the correct place and it would always return -EINVAL. However, now it will always be in the correct place. I deleted the check since we know the result.

Published: 2025-08-16 Last update: 2026-01-07 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-38538 is rated Low Risk (33.4/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.03%). 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.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2025-38538

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 2026-01-08 0.06% 0.03% -0.04%
2 2025-12-16 0.02% 0.06% +0.05%
3 2025-08-16 0.02%

Full EPSS history (3 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-38538

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
1.8 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-38538

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-38538

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2025-38538 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 2 source packages (linux, linux-6.1), 6 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 6. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-38538
redhat https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38538
suse medium CVE-2025-38538 severity moderate: SUSE including 491 source package names (13.2-9.1:libsqlite3-0-3.49.1-1.1, 2.1.3-6.35:libsqlite3-0-3.49.1-1.1, …), 929 product×package rows across 166 product lines (Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/baremetal-os-container, Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/base-os-container, … (166 product lines)): Fixed 615, Known Affected 231, Known Not Affected 58, First Fixed 25. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38538/
ubuntu medium CVE-2025-38538 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, released 165, ignored 164, needed 45, not-affected 19, needs-triage 2, pending 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-38538

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-38538

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 3.17, < 5.4.297 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.5, < 5.10.241 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.11, < 5.15.190 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.16, < 6.1.147 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.2, < 6.6.100 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.7, < 6.12.40 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.13, < 6.15.8 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:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.16 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.16:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 11.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2025-38538

URL Tags
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/122160289adf8ebf15060f1cbf6265b55a914948 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/188c6ba1dd925849c5d94885c8bbdeb0b3dcf510 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/24861ef8b517a309a4225f2793be0cd8fa0bec9e Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4bb016438335ec02b01f96bf1367378c2bfe03e5 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/84fff8e6f11b9af1407e273995b5257d99ff0cff Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/aec396b4f736f3f8d2c28a9cd2924a4ada57ae87 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d6bbd67ab5de37a74ac85c83c5a26664b62034dd Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f366b36c5e3ce29c9a3c8eed3d1631908e4fc8bb Patch
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/10/msg00007.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/10/msg00008.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
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