NULL pointer dereference in Linux

CVE-2025-38408

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: genirq/irq_sim: Initialize work context pointers properly Initialize `ops` member's pointers properly by using kzalloc() instead of kmalloc() when allocating the simulation work context. Otherwise the pointers contain random content leading to invalid dereferencing.

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.8 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.002 (6.6th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 7th percentile — 6.6% 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-2025-38408: 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 337cbeb2c13eb4cab84f576fd402d7ae4ed31ae1, 5.8, 0
  • Linux Kernel — versions 6.16

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2025-38408?
CVE-2025-38408 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2025-07-25.
How severe is CVE-2025-38408?
High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.