NULL pointer dereference in Linux

CVE-2025-38586

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf, arm64: Fix fp initialization for exception boundary In the ARM64 BPF JIT when prog->aux->exception_boundary is set for a BPF program, find_used_callee_regs() is not called because for a program acting as exception boundary, all callee saved registers are saved. find_used_callee_regs() sets `ctx->fp_used = true;` when it sees FP being used in any of the instructions. For programs acting as exception boundary, ctx->fp_used remains false even if frame pointer is used by the program and therefore, FP is not set-up for such programs in the prologue. This can cause the kernel to crash due to a pagefault. Fix it by setting ctx->fp_used = true for exception boundary programs as fp is always saved in such programs.

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 (5.6th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 6th percentile — 5.6% 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-2025-38586: 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)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2025-38586?
CVE-2025-38586 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2025-08-19.
How severe is CVE-2025-38586?
High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.