NULL pointer dereference in Linux

CVE-2025-38673

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: Revert "drm/gem-framebuffer: Use dma_buf from GEM object instance" This reverts commit cce16fcd7446dcff7480cd9d2b6417075ed81065. The dma_buf field in struct drm_gem_object is not stable over the object instance's lifetime. The field becomes NULL when user space releases the final GEM handle on the buffer object. This resulted in a NULL-pointer deref. Workarounds in commit 5307dce878d4 ("drm/gem: Acquire references on GEM handles for framebuffers") and commit f6bfc9afc751 ("drm/framebuffer: Acquire internal references on GEM handles") only solved the problem partially. They especially don't work for buffer objects without a DRM framebuffer associated. Hence, this revert to going back to using .import_attach->dmabuf. v3: - cc stable

EPSS: 0.001 (2.8th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.

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.

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2025-38673?
CVE-2025-38673 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2025-08-22.
How severe is CVE-2025-38673?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.