Linux Kernel up to 6.15.2 ad4851_parse_channels_common memory corruption

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability identified as critical has been detected in Linux Kernel up to 6.15.2. Impacted is the function ad4851_parse_channels_common. Performing a manipulation results in memory corruption. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2025-38133. No exploit is available. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.15.2. This affects the function ad4851_parse_channels_common. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a memory corruption vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-119. The product performs operations on a memory buffer, but it can read from or write to a memory location that is outside of the intended boundary of the buffer. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: iio: adc: ad4851: fix ad4858 chan pointer handling The pointer returned from ad4851_parse_channels_common() is incremented internally as each channel is populated. In ad4858_parse_channels(), the same pointer was further incremented while setting ext_scan_type fields for each channel. This resulted in indio_dev->channels being set to a pointer past the end of the allocated array, potentially causing memory corruption or undefined behavior. Fix this by iterating over the channels using an explicit index instead of incrementing the pointer. This preserves the original base pointer and ensures all channel metadata is set correctly.

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2025-38133 since 04/16/2025. The exploitability is told to be easy. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 04/18/2026).

Upgrading to version 6.15.3 or 6.16-rc1 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 6c3b9e1167d072ce2d01cafec7866647cf8d3616/499a8cee812588905cc940837e69918c1649a19e is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at EUVD (EUVD-2025-19810) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-1452). Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Affected

• Google Container-Optimized OS
• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• IBM QRadar SIEM
• SUSE openSUSE
• RESF Rocky Linux
• Dell Avamar
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• Dell NetWorker
• Dell Secure Connect Gateway

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.15.0
• 6.15.1
• 6.15.2

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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CPE 2.2info

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