CVE-2025-38589 | neighbour: Fix null-ptr-deref in neigh_flush_dev().

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: neighbour: Fix null-ptr-deref in neigh_flush_dev(). kernel test robot reported null-ptr-deref in neigh_flush_dev(). [0] The cited commit introduced per-netdev neighbour list and converted neigh_flush_dev() to use it instead of the global hash table. One thing we missed is that neigh_table_clear() calls neigh_ifdown() with NULL dev. Let's restore the hash table iteration. Note that IPv6 module is no longer unloadable, so neigh_table_clear() is called only when IPv6 fails to initialise, which is unlikely to happen. [0]: IPv6: Attempt to unregister permanent protocol 136 IPv6: Attempt to unregister permanent protocol 17 Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc00000001a0: 0000 [#1] SMP KASAN KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000d00-0x0000000000000d07] CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 1 Comm: systemd Tainted: G T 6.12.0-rc6-01246-gf7f52738637f #1 Tainted: [T]=RANDSTRUCT Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.16.2-debian-1.16.2-1 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:neigh_flush_dev.llvm.6395807810224103582+0x52/0x570 Code: c1 e8 03 42 8a 04 38 84 c0 0f 85 15 05 00 00 31 c0 41 83 3e 0a 0f 94 c0 48 8d 1c c3 48 81 c3 f8 0c 00 00 48 89 d8 48 c1 e8 03 <42> 80 3c 38 00 74 08 48 89 df e8 f7 49 93 fe 4c 8b 3b 4d 85 ff 0f RSP: 0000:ffff88810026f408 EFLAGS: 00010206 RAX: 00000000000001a0 RBX: 0000000000000d00 RCX: 0000000000000000 RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: ffffffffc0631640 RBP: ffff88810026f470 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000 R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: 0000000000000000 R13: ffffffffc0625250 R14: ffffffffc0631640 R15: dffffc0000000000 FS: 00007f575cb83940(0000) GS:ffff8883aee00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 00007f575db40008 CR3: 00000002bf936000 CR4: 00000000000406f0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 Call Trace: <TASK> __neigh_ifdown.llvm.6395807810224103582+0x44/0x390 neigh_table_clear+0xb1/0x268 ndisc_cleanup+0x21/0x38 [ipv6] init_module+0x2f5/0x468 [ipv6] do_one_initcall+0x1ba/0x628 do_init_module+0x21a/0x530 load_module+0x2550/0x2ea0 __se_sys_finit_module+0x3d2/0x620 __x64_sys_finit_module+0x76/0x88 x64_sys_call+0x7ff/0xde8 do_syscall_64+0xfb/0x1e8 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x67/0x6f RIP: 0033:0x7f575d6f2719 Code: 08 89 e8 5b 5d c3 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 90 48 89 f8 48 89 f7 48 89 d6 48 89 ca 4d 89 c2 4d 89 c8 4c 8b 4c 24 08 0f 05 <48> 3d 01 f0 ff ff 73 01 c3 48 8b 0d b7 06 0d 00 f7 d8 64 89 01 48 RSP: 002b:00007fff82a2a268 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000139 RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 0000557827b45310 RCX: 00007f575d6f2719 RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 00007f575d584efd RDI: 0000000000000004 RBP: 00007f575d584efd R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000557827b47b00 R10: 0000000000000004 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 0000000000020000 R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 0000557827b470e0 R15: 00007f575dbb4270 </TASK> Modules linked in: ipv6(+)

Published: 2025-08-19 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-38589 is rated Low Risk (23.5/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.14%). 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-2025-38589

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 2026-06-15 0.02% 0.14% +0.13%
2 2025-08-20 0.02%

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-38589

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

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]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-38589

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-38589

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2025-38589 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-2025-38589
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38589
suse medium CVE-2025-38589 severity moderate: SUSE including 110 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, …), 483 product×package rows across 81 product lines (Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/baremetal-os-container, Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/base-os-container, … (81 product lines)): Known Not Affected 293, Fixed 165, First Fixed 25. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38589/
ubuntu medium CVE-2025-38589 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 159, not-affected 132, released 102, needs-triage 2, needed 1, pending 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-38589

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-38589

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 6.13, < 6.15.10 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.16, < 6.16.1 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2025-38589

cvelogic Threat Intelligence