NULL pointer dereference in Linux

CVE-2025-38053

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: idpf: fix null-ptr-deref in idpf_features_check idpf_features_check is used to validate the TX packet. skb header length is compared with the hardware supported value received from the device control plane. The value is stored in the adapter structure and to access it, vport pointer is used. During reset all the vports are released and the vport pointer that the netdev private structure points to is NULL. To avoid null-ptr-deref, store the max header length value in netdev private structure. This also helps to cache the value and avoid accessing adapter pointer in hot path. BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000068 ... RIP: 0010:idpf_features_check+0x6d/0xe0 [idpf] Call Trace: <TASK> ? __die+0x23/0x70 ? page_fault_oops+0x154/0x520 ? exc_page_fault+0x76/0x190 ? asm_exc_page_fault+0x26/0x30 ? idpf_features_check+0x6d/0xe0 [idpf] netif_skb_features+0x88/0x310 validate_xmit_skb+0x2a/0x2b0 validate_xmit_skb_list+0x4c/0x70 sch_direct_xmit+0x19d/0x3a0 __dev_queue_xmit+0xb74/0xe70 ...

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 5.5 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.002 (7.6th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 8th percentile — 7.6% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2025-38053: held from 0.002 to 0.002.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.002 · newest: 0.002 · change: +0.000

Affected products

  • Linux — versions a251eee62133774cf35ff829041377e721ef9c8c, 6.7, 0
  • Linux Kernel — versions 6.15

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2025-38053?
CVE-2025-38053 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2025-06-18.
How severe is CVE-2025-38053?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.