Linux KernelOperating system · Linux
CVE-2025-38277
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: mtd: nand: ecc-mxic: Fix use of uninitialized variable ret If ctx->steps is zero, the loop processing ECC steps is skipped, and the variable ret remains uninitialized. It is later checked and returned, which leads to undefined behavior and may cause unpredictable results in user space or kernel crashes. This scenario can be triggered in edge cases such as misconfigured geometry, ECC engine misuse, or if ctx->steps is not validated after initialization. Initialize ret to zero before the loop to ensure correct and safe behavior regardless of the ctx->steps value. Found by Linux Verification Center (linuxtesting.org) with SVACE.
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 analysisMemory or a resource is used before it has been initialised, so its contents are whatever happened to be there — sometimes leaking earlier data, sometimes values an attacker can influence. Behaviour becomes unpredictable and occasionally exploitable. Remediation is initialising every resource before use and ensuring initialisation happens on all code paths.
General guidance for the use of uninitialized resource 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
>= 5.18, < 6.1.142>= 6.2, < 6.6.94>= 6.7, < 6.12.34>= 6.13, < 6.15.3
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 · scoped6.1.1426.6.946.12.34
6.1.142, 6.6.94, 6.12.34, or 6.15.3 (depending on current kernel branch)
- Identify the current kernel version using `uname -r`
- Determine which kernel branch the current version belongs to (e.g., 6.1.x, 6.6.x, 6.7-6.12.x, or 6.13-6.15.x)
- Upgrade the Linux kernel to a fixed version: 6.1.142 or later for 6.1.x kernels, 6.6.94 or later for 6.2-6.6.x kernels, 6.12.34 or later for 6.7-6.12.x kernels, or 6.15.3 or later for 6.13-6.14.x kernels
- Reboot the system to load the patched kernel
- Verify the fix is applied by checking the kernel version and confirming the ECC MXIC driver loads without errors
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-2025-38277 — 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-2025-38277 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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