What is CVE-2021-38205?

CVE-2021-38205 is a low-severity vulnerability in Linux Kernel, classified under Access of Uninitialized Pointer. CVSS score: 3.3/10. Published 2021-08-08.

How severe is CVE-2021-38205?

Low severity. CVSS v3 base score is 3.3 out of 10.

Vulnerability in Linux Kernel

CVE-2021-38205

drivers/net/ethernet/xilinx/xilinx_emaclite.c in the Linux kernel before 5.13.3 makes it easier for attackers to defeat an ASLR protection mechanism because it prints a kernel pointer (i.e., the real IOMEM pointer).

Published 2021-08-08 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 3.3 (Low). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.003 (23.3th percentile), scored 2026-09-29.

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 23rd percentile — 23.3% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.003 · newest: 0.003 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Linux Kernel
Debian Linux — versions 9.0

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-824 — Access of Uninitialized Pointer

References

github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/d0d62baa7f505bd4c59cd169692ff07ec49dde37 (Patch, Third Party Advisory)
cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v5.x/ChangeLog-5.13.3 (Patch, Mailing List, Vendor Advisory)
lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2021/10/msg00010.html (mailing-list, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2021/12/msg00012.html (mailing-list, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2021-38205?: CVE-2021-38205 is a low-severity vulnerability in Linux Kernel, classified under Access of Uninitialized Pointer. CVSS score: 3.3/10. Published 2021-08-08.
How severe is CVE-2021-38205?: Low severity. CVSS v3 base score is 3.3 out of 10.