Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2025-38624

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-08-22
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.10.241 / 5.15.190 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: PCI: pnv_php: Clean up allocated IRQs on unplug When the root of a nested PCIe bridge configuration is unplugged, the pnv_php driver leaked the allocated IRQ resources for the child bridges' hotplug event notifications, resulting in a panic. Fix this by walking all child buses and deallocating all its IRQ resources before calling pci_hp_remove_devices(). Also modify the lifetime of the workqueue at struct pnv_php_slot::wq so that it is only destroyed in pnv_php_free_slot(), instead of pnv_php_disable_irq(). This is required since pnv_php_disable_irq() will now be called by workers triggered by hot unplug interrupts, so the workqueue needs to stay allocated. The abridged kernel panic that occurs without this patch is as follows: WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 687 at kernel/irq/msi.c:292 msi_device_data_release+0x6c/0x9c CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 687 Comm: bash Not tainted 6.14.0-rc5+ #2 Call Trace: msi_device_data_release+0x34/0x9c (unreliable) release_nodes+0x64/0x13c devres_release_all+0xc0/0x140 device_del+0x2d4/0x46c pci_destroy_dev+0x5c/0x194 pci_hp_remove_devices+0x90/0x128 pci_hp_remove_devices+0x44/0x128 pnv_php_disable_slot+0x54/0xd4 power_write_file+0xf8/0x18c pci_slot_attr_store+0x40/0x5c sysfs_kf_write+0x64/0x78 kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x1b0/0x290 vfs_write+0x3bc/0x50c ksys_write+0x84/0x140 system_call_exception+0x124/0x230 system_call_vectored_common+0x15c/0x2ec [bhelgaas: tidy comments]

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:>= 4.9, < 5.10.241>= 5.11, < 5.15.190>= 5.16, < 6.1.148>= 6.2, < 6.6.102>= 6.7, < 6.12.42>= 6.13, < 6.15.10>= 6.16, < 6.16.1
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 5.10.241 / 5.15.190 / 6.1.148 or later
Fixed in 5.10.2415.15.1906.1.148
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Linux Kernel 5.10.241, 5.15.190, 6.1.148, or 6.6.102 (or later stable releases); Debian 11 kernel from Debian security updates

  1. Identify current kernel version using 'uname -r' or 'cat /proc/version'
  2. For enterprise Linux distributions (RHEL, SLES, Ubuntu LTS), check vendor security advisories for kernel updates addressing this CVE
  3. For Debian 11, apply security updates: 'apt update && apt upgrade linux-image-generic' or wait for DSA (Debian Security Advisory) for kernel upgrade
  4. For upstream/custom kernels, apply the fix from commit 1773c19fa55e944cdd2634e2d9e552f87f2d38d5 which adds pnv_php_free_irqs() function to walk child buses and deallocate IRQ resources before pci_hp_remove_devices()
  5. Reboot into the updated kernel to apply the fix
  6. Verify the fix by testing PCIe hotplug/unplug operations on affected pnv_php hardware (PowerNV platform)
Caveat Kernel upgrade carries standard upgrade risks; this is a bugfix patch with no expected functional regressions but should be tested in a staging environment before production deployment

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-2025-38624 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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