CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2025-38673 — Linux Linux Kernel security vulnerability

Medium CVSS 5.5

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: Revert "drm/gem-framebuffer: Use dma_buf from GEM object instance" This reverts commit cce16fcd7446dcff7480cd9d2b6417075ed81065. The dma_buf field in struct drm_gem_object is not stable over the object instance's lifetime. The field becomes NULL when user space releases the final GEM handle on the buffer object. This resulted in a NULL-pointer deref. Workarounds in commit 5307dce878d4 ("drm/gem: Acquire references on GEM handles for framebuffers") and commit f6bfc9afc751 ("drm/framebuffer: Acquire internal references on GEM handles") only solved the problem partially. They especially don't work for buffer objects without a DRM framebuffer associated. Hence, this revert to going back to using .import_attach->dmabuf. v3: - cc stable

Severity
Medium
CVSS
5.5 (3.1)
Published
2025-08-22
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 8 source matches. Confirm exact affected versions with the linked vendor and NVD evidence.

Matched remediation archetype

Buffer bounds, memory safety, and memory corruption

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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

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