NULL pointer dereference in Linux

CVE-2025-38142

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: hwmon: (asus-ec-sensors) check sensor index in read_string() Prevent a potential invalid memory access when the requested sensor is not found. find_ec_sensor_index() may return a negative value (e.g. -ENOENT), but its result was used without checking, which could lead to undefined behavior when passed to get_sensor_info(). Add a proper check to return -EINVAL if sensor_index is negative. Found by Linux Verification Center (linuxtesting.org) with SVACE. [groeck: Return error code returned from find_ec_sensor_index]

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 (6.4th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 6th percentile — 6.4% 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-2025-38142: held from 0.002 to 0.002.

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

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2025-38142?
CVE-2025-38142 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2025-07-03.
How severe is CVE-2025-38142?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.
Is CVE-2025-38142 known to be exploited?
1 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.