Out-of-bounds Read in Linux

CVE-2025-38736

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: usb: asix_devices: Fix PHY address mask in MDIO bus initialization Syzbot reported shift-out-of-bounds exception on MDIO bus initialization. The PHY address should be masked to 5 bits (0-31). Without this mask, invalid PHY addresses could be used, potentially causing issues with MDIO bus operations. Fix this by masking the PHY address with 0x1f (31 decimal) to ensure it stays within the valid range.

Vulnerability class: Buffer Overflow

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.1 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.002 (5.5th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 5th percentile — 5.5% 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-2025-38736: 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 a754ab53993b1585132e871c5d811167ad3c52ff, ccef5ee4adf56472aa26bdd1f821a6d0cd06089a, ad1f8313aeec0115f9978bd2d002ef4a8d96c773
  • Linux Kernel — versions 6.12.43, 6.17
  • Debian Linux — versions 11.0

Weakness classification (CWE)

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2025-38736?
CVE-2025-38736 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under Out-of-bounds Read. CVSS score: 7.1/10. Published 2025-09-05.
How severe is CVE-2025-38736?
High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.1 out of 10.
Is CVE-2025-38736 known to be exploited?
1 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.