Linux KernelOperating system · Linux
CVE-2025-38197
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedIn the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: platform/x86: dell_rbu: Fix list usage Pass the correct list head to list_for_each_entry*() when looping through the packet list. Without this patch, reading the packet data via sysfs will show the data incorrectly (because it starts at the wrong packet), and clearing the packet list will result in a NULL pointer dereference.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysisThe code follows a pointer that is null, crashing the process. An attacker who can reliably trigger it turns the crash into a denial of service. The fix is checking for null before use and handling the failure path gracefully.
General guidance for the null pointer dereference class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data
Linux KernelOperating system
>= 5.7, < 5.10.239>= 5.11, < 5.15.186>= 5.16, < 6.1.142>= 6.2, < 6.6.95>= 6.7, < 6.12.35>= 6.13, < 6.15.4= 6.16
Debian LinuxOperating system
= 11.0CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
dbcve · scoped5.10.2395.15.1866.1.142
Upgrade to Linux kernel 5.10.239+ (stable), 5.15.186+ (LTS), 6.1.142+ (LTS), or 6.6.95+ (LTS) as appropriate to your current branch
- 1. Check current kernel version using 'uname -r'
- 2. Determine which stable kernel branch is appropriate for your system (based on your distribution's kernel packaging)
- 3. For Debian 11 (bullseye), apply the vendor-supplied patch or upgrade to the Debian-managed kernel version that includes the fix (check https://security tracker for debian kernel updates)
- 4. For other distributions, upgrade the kernel package to a version >= 5.10.239, >= 5.15.186, >= 6.1.142, or >= 6.6.95 as applicable to your kernel branch
- 5. Reboot the system to load the fixed kernel
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-38197 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-38197 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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