Linux Kernel up to 6.15.5/6.16-rc4 HID appletb_kbd_probe use after free

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.15.5/6.16-rc4. Impacted is the function appletb_kbd_probe of the component HID. Performing a manipulation results in use after free. This vulnerability is cataloged as CVE-2025-38378. There is no exploit available. It is advisable to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.15.5/6.16-rc4. This affects the function appletb_kbd_probe of the component HID. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a use after free vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-416. Referencing memory after it has been freed can cause a program to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code. 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: HID: appletb-kbd: fix slab use-after-free bug in appletb_kbd_probe In probe appletb_kbd_probe() a "struct appletb_kbd *kbd" is allocated via devm_kzalloc() to store touch bar keyboard related data. Later on if backlight_device_get_by_name() finds a backlight device with name "appletb_backlight" a timer (kbd->inactivity_timer) is setup with appletb_inactivity_timer() and the timer is armed to run after appletb_tb_dim_timeout (60) seconds. A use-after-free is triggered when failure occurs after the timer is armed. This ultimately means probe failure occurs and as a result the "struct appletb_kbd *kbd" which is device managed memory is freed. After 60 seconds the timer will have expired and __run_timers will attempt to access the timer (kbd->inactivity_timer) however the kdb structure has been freed causing a use-after free. [ 71.636938] ================================================================== [ 71.637915] BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in __run_timers+0x7ad/0x890 [ 71.637915] Write of size 8 at addr ffff8881178c5958 by task swapper/1/0 [ 71.637915] [ 71.637915] CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 0 Comm: swapper/1 Not tainted 6.16.0-rc2-00318-g739a6c93cc75-dirty #12 PREEMPT(voluntary) [ 71.637915] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.16.2-debian-1.16.2-1 04/01/2014 [ 71.637915] Call Trace: [ 71.637915] <IRQ> [ 71.637915] dump_stack_lvl+0x53/0x70 [ 71.637915] print_report+0xce/0x670 [ 71.637915] ? __run_timers+0x7ad/0x890 [ 71.637915] kasan_report+0xce/0x100 [ 71.637915] ? __run_timers+0x7ad/0x890 [ 71.637915] __run_timers+0x7ad/0x890 [ 71.637915] ? __pfx___run_timers+0x10/0x10 [ 71.637915] ? update_process_times+0xfc/0x190 [ 71.637915] ? __pfx_update_process_times+0x10/0x10 [ 71.637915] ? _raw_spin_lock_irq+0x80/0xe0 [ 71.637915] ? _raw_spin_lock_irq+0x80/0xe0 [ 71.637915] ? __pfx__raw_spin_lock_irq+0x10/0x10 [ 71.637915] run_timer_softirq+0x141/0x240 [ 71.637915] ? __pfx_run_timer_softirq+0x10/0x10 [ 71.637915] ? __pfx___hrtimer_run_queues+0x10/0x10 [ 71.637915] ? kvm_clock_get_cycles+0x18/0x30 [ 71.637915] ? ktime_get+0x60/0x140 [ 71.637915] handle_softirqs+0x1b8/0x5c0 [ 71.637915] ? __pfx_handle_softirqs+0x10/0x10 [ 71.637915] irq_exit_rcu+0xaf/0xe0 [ 71.637915] sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0x6c/0x80 [ 71.637915] </IRQ> [ 71.637915] [ 71.637915] Allocated by task 39: [ 71.637915] kasan_save_stack+0x33/0x60 [ 71.637915] kasan_save_track+0x14/0x30 [ 71.637915] __kasan_kmalloc+0x8f/0xa0 [ 71.637915] __kmalloc_node_track_caller_noprof+0x195/0x420 [ 71.637915] devm_kmalloc+0x74/0x1e0 [ 71.637915] appletb_kbd_probe+0x37/0x3c0 [ 71.637915] hid_device_probe+0x2d1/0x680 [ 71.637915] really_probe+0x1c3/0x690 [ 71.637915] __driver_probe_device+0x247/0x300 [ 71.637915] driver_probe_device+0x49/0x210 [...] [ 71.637915] [ 71.637915] Freed by task 39: [ 71.637915] kasan_save_stack+0x33/0x60 [ 71.637915] kasan_save_track+0x14/0x30 [ 71.637915] kasan_save_free_info+0x3b/0x60 [ 71.637915] __kasan_slab_free+0x37/0x50 [ 71.637915] kfree+0xcf/0x360 [ 71.637915] devres_release_group+0x1f8/0x3c0 [ 71.637915] hid_device_probe+0x315/0x680 [ 71.637915] really_probe+0x1c3/0x690 [ 71.637915] __driver_probe_device+0x247/0x300 [ 71.637915] driver_probe_device+0x49/0x210 [...] The root cause of the issue is that the timer is not disarmed on failure paths leading to it remaining active and accessing freed memory. To fix this call timer_delete_sync() to deactivate the timer. Another small issue is that timer_delete_sync is called unconditionally in appletb_kbd_remove(), fix this by checking for a valid kbd->backlight_dev before calling timer_delete_sync.

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2025-38378 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 12/23/2025).

Upgrading to version 6.15.6 or 6.16-rc5 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 51720dee3a61ebace36c3dcdd0b4a488e0970f29/38224c472a038fa9ccd4085511dd9f3d6119dbf9 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 vulnerability database at CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-1653). Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Affected

• 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
• 6.15.3
• 6.15.4
• 6.15.5
• 6.16-rc1
• 6.16-rc2
• 6.16-rc3
• 6.16-rc4

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Entryinfo

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