CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2025-38255 — Linux Linux Kernel security vulnerability

Medium CVSS 5.5

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: lib/group_cpus: fix NULL pointer dereference from group_cpus_evenly() While testing null_blk with configfs, echo 0 > poll_queues will trigger following panic: BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000010 Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP NOPTI CPU: 27 UID: 0 PID: 920 Comm: bash Not tainted 6.15.0-02023-gadbdb95c8696-dirty #1238 PREEMPT(undef) Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.16.1-2.fc37 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:__bitmap_or+0x48/0x70 Call Trace: <TASK> __group_cpus_evenly+0x822/0x8c0 group_cpus_evenly+0x2d9/0x490 blk_mq_map_queues+0x1e/0x110 null_map_queues+0xc9/0x170 [null_blk] blk_mq_update_queue_map+0xdb/0x160 blk_mq_update_nr_hw_queues+0x22b/0x560 nullb_update_nr_hw_queues+0x71/0xf0 [null_blk] nullb_device_poll_queues_store+0xa4/0x130 [null_blk] configfs_write_iter+0x109/0x1d0 vfs_write+0x26e/0x6f0 ksys_write+0x79/0x180 __x64_sys_write+0x1d/0x30 x64_sys_call+0x45c4/0x45f0 do_syscall_64+0xa5/0x240 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e Root cause is that numgrps is set to 0, and ZERO_SIZE_PTR is returned from kcalloc(), and later ZERO_SIZE_PTR will be deferenced. Fix the pro…

Severity
Medium
CVSS
5.5 (3.1)
Published
2025-07-09
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
linux/kernel
Weaknesses
CWE-476

Affected products

  • linux / linux_kernel
  • linux / linux_kernel / 6.16

Showing 2 representative product identities from 6 source matches. Confirm exact affected versions with the linked vendor and NVD evidence.

Matched remediation archetype

Buffer bounds, memory safety, and memory corruption

This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.

Check exposure

  • Identify affected native-code versions, build flags, architectures, parsers, codecs, drivers, and input paths in all shipped artifacts.
  • Determine whether untrusted data reaches the affected routine and the process privilege, sandbox, and network exposure.
  • Confirm statically linked, vendored, firmware, and platform-provided copies, not only package-manager records.

Remediate safely

  • Apply the maintained upstream correction or replace the affected component, then rebuild every dependent artifact from clean inputs.
  • Adopt bounds-checked interfaces, validated sizes and integer conversions, clear ownership, and memory-safe components where practical.
  • Enable supported compiler and runtime hardening and add sanitized tests and fuzz regression seeds derived from non-weaponized fixtures.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

The detailed catalog view below loads this exact record, its source evidence, and the full seven-phase agentic change plan.