Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2025-38336

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-07-10
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.4.295 / 5.10.239 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click Patch available

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 · unedited
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ata: pata_via: Force PIO for ATAPI devices on VT6415/VT6330 The controller has a hardware bug that can hard hang the system when doing ATAPI DMAs without any trace of what happened. Depending on the device attached, it can also prevent the system from booting. In this case, the system hangs when reading the ATIP from optical media with cdrecord -vvv -atip on an _NEC DVD_RW ND-4571A 1-01 and an Optiarc DVD RW AD-7200A 1.06 attached to an ASRock 990FX Extreme 4, running at UDMA/33. The issue can be reproduced by running the same command with a cygwin build of cdrecord on WinXP, although it requires more attempts to cause it. The hang in that case is also resolved by forcing PIO. It doesn't appear that VIA has produced any drivers for that OS, thus no known workaround exists. HDDs attached to the controller do not suffer from any DMA issues.

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 analysis

A detailed technical summary for this CVE is being prepared.

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
Affected:< 5.4.295>= 5.5, < 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
Affected:= 11.0

CVSS 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 · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 5.4.295 / 5.10.239 / 5.15.186 or later
Fixed in 5.4.2955.10.2395.15.186
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to Linux kernel 6.1.142 or later (or 5.15.186, 5.10.239, or 5.4.295 depending on your branch)

  1. Identify the current kernel version using `uname -r` or `cat /proc/version`
  2. Check which version range your current kernel falls into (< 5.4.295, 5.5-5.10.x, 5.11-5.15.x, or 5.16-6.1.x)
  3. For Debian 11 (Bullseye) systems: Update the kernel package via `apt update && apt upgrade linux-image-amd64` to get a kernel >= 6.1.142, or if staying on 5.10 track, >= 5.10.239
  4. For other Linux distributions: Use the distribution's package manager to upgrade the kernel to a fixed version (6.1.142+, 5.15.186+, 5.10.239+, or 5.4.295+)
  5. Reboot the system to load the patched kernel
  6. Verify the fix is applied by checking the kernel version with `uname -r`
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require rebuilding third-party kernel modules; ensure compatibility with your distribution's kernel before upgrading

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $1,600. Get the upgrade done

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-38336 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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