Vulnerability in Linux

CVE-2025-38531

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: iio: common: st_sensors: Fix use of uninitialize device structs Throughout the various probe functions &indio_dev->dev is used before it is initialized. This caused a kernel panic in st_sensors_power_enable() when the call to devm_regulator_bulk_get_enable() fails and then calls dev_err_probe() with the uninitialized device. This seems to only cause a panic with dev_err_probe(), dev_err(), dev_warn() and dev_info() don't seem to cause a panic, but are fixed as well. The issue is reported and traced here: [1]

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 (4.3th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 4th percentile — 4.3% 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-2025-38531: 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 4dff754876959b3f3b354800089bc8aaa3ec1d95, 5.16, 0
  • Linux Kernel — versions 6.16

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2025-38531?
CVE-2025-38531 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under Use of Uninitialized Resource. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2025-08-16.
How severe is CVE-2025-38531?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.