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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2025-38528

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-08-16
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.15.190 / 6.1.147 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: bpf: Reject %p% format string in bprintf-like helpers static const char fmt[] = "%p%"; bpf_trace_printk(fmt, sizeof(fmt)); The above BPF program isn't rejected and causes a kernel warning at runtime: Please remove unsupported %\x00 in format string WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 7244 at lib/vsprintf.c:2680 format_decode+0x49c/0x5d0 This happens because bpf_bprintf_prepare skips over the second %, detected as punctuation, while processing %p. This patch fixes it by not skipping over punctuation. %\x00 is then processed in the next iteration and rejected.

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:>= 5.13, < 5.15.190>= 5.16, < 6.1.147>= 6.2, < 6.6.100>= 6.7, < 6.12.40>= 6.13, < 6.15.8= 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 5.15.190 / 6.1.147 / 6.6.100 or later
Fixed in 5.15.1906.1.1476.6.100
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Linux Kernel 5.15.190+, 6.1.147+, 6.6.100+, or 6.12.40+ (or Debian 12 with updated kernel)

  1. Identify your current kernel version using 'uname -r'
  2. Determine which stable kernel branch you're running (e.g., 5.15.x, 6.1.x, 6.6.x, or 6.7.x-6.12.x)
  3. Upgrade to a kernel version >= 5.15.190 if running 5.15.x series
  4. Upgrade to a kernel version >= 6.1.147 if running 6.1.x series
  5. Upgrade to a kernel version >= 6.6.100 if running 6.2-6.6.x series
  6. Upgrade to a kernel version >= 6.12.40 if running 6.7-6.12.x series
  7. For Debian 11 (Bullseye), apply Debian kernel updates or upgrade to Debian 12 which includes newer kernel
  8. Reboot the system after kernel upgrade
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require rebuilding third-party kernel modules; ensure compatible drivers are available 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-2025-38528 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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