Linux Kernel up to 6.12.36/6.15.5/6.16-rc4 sbi_hsm_hart_start allocation of resources

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5.4	$0-$5k	0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.36/6.15.5/6.16-rc4. The affected element is the function sbi_hsm_hart_start. Executing a manipulation can lead to allocation of resources. This vulnerability is registered as CVE-2025-38407. No exploit is available. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as problematic was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.36/6.15.5/6.16-rc4. This vulnerability affects the function sbi_hsm_hart_start. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a allocation of resources vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-770. The product allocates a reusable resource or group of resources on behalf of an actor without imposing any restrictions on the size or number of resources that can be allocated, in violation of the intended security policy for that actor. The impact remains unknown. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: riscv: cpu_ops_sbi: Use static array for boot_data Since commit 6b9f29b81b15 ("riscv: Enable pcpu page first chunk allocator"), if NUMA is enabled, the page percpu allocator may be used on very sparse configurations, or when requested on boot with percpu_alloc=page. In that case, percpu data gets put in the vmalloc area. However, sbi_hsm_hart_start() needs the physical address of a sbi_hart_boot_data, and simply assumes that __pa() would work. This causes the just started hart to immediately access an invalid address and hang. Fortunately, struct sbi_hart_boot_data is not too large, so we can simply allocate an array for boot_data statically, putting it in the kernel image. This fixes NUMA=y SMP boot on Sophgo SG2042. To reproduce on QEMU: Set CONFIG_NUMA=y and CONFIG_DEBUG_VIRTUAL=y, then run with: qemu-system-riscv64 -M virt -smp 2 -nographic \ -kernel arch/riscv/boot/Image \ -append "percpu_alloc=page" Kernel output: [ 0.000000] Booting Linux on hartid 0 [ 0.000000] Linux version 6.16.0-rc1 (dram@sakuya) (riscv64-unknown-linux-gnu-gcc (GCC) 14.2.1 20250322, GNU ld (GNU Binutils) 2.44) #11 SMP Tue Jun 24 14:56:22 CST 2025 ... [ 0.000000] percpu: 28 4K pages/cpu s85784 r8192 d20712 ... [ 0.083192] smp: Bringing up secondary CPUs ... [ 0.086722] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 0.086849] virt_to_phys used for non-linear address: (____ptrval____) (0xff2000000001d080) [ 0.088001] WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 1 at arch/riscv/mm/physaddr.c:14 __virt_to_phys+0xae/0xe8 [ 0.088376] Modules linked in: [ 0.088656] CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 1 Comm: swapper/0 Not tainted 6.16.0-rc1 #11 NONE [ 0.088833] Hardware name: riscv-virtio,qemu (DT) [ 0.088948] epc : __virt_to_phys+0xae/0xe8 [ 0.089001] ra : __virt_to_phys+0xae/0xe8 [ 0.089037] epc : ffffffff80021eaa ra : ffffffff80021eaa sp : ff2000000004bbc0 [ 0.089057] gp : ffffffff817f49c0 tp : ff60000001d60000 t0 : 5f6f745f74726976 [ 0.089076] t1 : 0000000000000076 t2 : 705f6f745f747269 s0 : ff2000000004bbe0 [ 0.089095] s1 : ff2000000001d080 a0 : 0000000000000000 a1 : 0000000000000000 [ 0.089113] a2 : 0000000000000000 a3 : 0000000000000000 a4 : 0000000000000000 [ 0.089131] a5 : 0000000000000000 a6 : 0000000000000000 a7 : 0000000000000000 [ 0.089155] s2 : ffffffff8130dc00 s3 : 0000000000000001 s4 : 0000000000000001 [ 0.089174] s5 : ffffffff8185eff8 s6 : ff2000007f1eb000 s7 : ffffffff8002a2ec [ 0.089193] s8 : 0000000000000001 s9 : 0000000000000001 s10: 0000000000000000 [ 0.089211] s11: 0000000000000000 t3 : ffffffff8180a9f7 t4 : ffffffff8180a9f7 [ 0.089960] t5 : ffffffff8180a9f8 t6 : ff2000000004b9d8 [ 0.089984] status: 0000000200000120 badaddr: ffffffff80021eaa cause: 0000000000000003 [ 0.090101] [<ffffffff80021eaa>] __virt_to_phys+0xae/0xe8 [ 0.090228] [<ffffffff8001d796>] sbi_cpu_start+0x6e/0xe8 [ 0.090247] [<ffffffff8001a5da>] __cpu_up+0x1e/0x8c [ 0.090260] [<ffffffff8002a32e>] bringup_cpu+0x42/0x258 [ 0.090277] [<ffffffff8002914c>] cpuhp_invoke_callback+0xe0/0x40c [ 0.090292] [<ffffffff800294e0>] __cpuhp_invoke_callback_range+0x68/0xfc [ 0.090320] [<ffffffff8002a96a>] _cpu_up+0x11a/0x244 [ 0.090334] [<ffffffff8002aae6>] cpu_up+0x52/0x90 [ 0.090384] [<ffffffff80c09350>] bringup_nonboot_cpus+0x78/0x118 [ 0.090411] [<ffffffff80c11060>] smp_init+0x34/0xb8 [ 0.090425] [<ffffffff80c01220>] kernel_init_freeable+0x148/0x2e4 [ 0.090442] [<ffffffff80b83802>] kernel_init+0x1e/0x14c [ 0.090455] [<ffffffff800124ca>] ret_from_fork_kernel+0xe/0xf0 [ 0.090471] [<ffffffff80b8d9c2>] ret_from_fork_kernel_asm+0x16/0x18 [ 0.090560] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- [ 1.179875] CPU1: failed to come online [ 1.190324] smp: Brought up 1 node, 1 CPU

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability was named CVE-2025-38407 since 04/16/2025. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 271193 (Ubuntu 24.04 LTS / 25.04 : Linux kernel (Azure) vulnerabilities (USN-7834-1)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.12.37, 6.15.6 or 6.16-rc5 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch f5fe094f35a37adea40b2fd52c99bb1333be9b07/2b29be967ae456fc09c320d91d52278cf721be1e 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 Tenable (271193) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-1653). Once again VulDB remains the best source 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

• 6.12.0
• 6.12.1
• 6.12.2
• 6.12.3
• 6.12.4
• 6.12.5
• 6.12.6
• 6.12.7
• 6.12.8
• 6.12.9
• 6.12.10
• 6.12.11
• 6.12.12
• 6.12.13
• 6.12.14
• 6.12.15
• 6.12.16
• 6.12.17
• 6.12.18
• 6.12.19
• 6.12.20
• 6.12.21
• 6.12.22
• 6.12.23
• 6.12.24
• 6.12.25
• 6.12.26
• 6.12.27
• 6.12.28
• 6.12.29
• 6.12.30
• 6.12.31
• 6.12.32
• 6.12.33
• 6.12.34
• 6.12.35
• 6.12.36
• 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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CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 5.5
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 5.4

VulDB Base Score: 5.5
VulDB Temp Score: 5.3
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

NVD Base Score: 5.5
NVD Vector: 🔒

CVSSv2info

AV	AC	Au	C	I	A
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💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
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Vector	Complexity	Authentication	Confidentiality	Integrity	Availability
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VulDB Base Score: 🔒
VulDB Temp Score: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Allocation of resources
CWE: CWE-770 / CWE-400 / CWE-404
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: Partially
Local: Yes
Remote: Partially

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined

EPSS Score: 🔒
EPSS Percentile: 🔒

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒

0-Day	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Today	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

Nessus ID: 271193
Nessus Name: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS / 25.04 : Linux kernel (Azure) vulnerabilities (USN-7834-1)

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔒

Upgrade: Kernel 6.12.37/6.15.6/6.16-rc5
Patch: f5fe094f35a37adea40b2fd52c99bb1333be9b07/2b29be967ae456fc09c320d91d52278cf721be1e

Timelineinfo

04/16/2025 CVE reserved
07/25/2025 +100 days Advisory disclosed
07/25/2025 +0 days VulDB entry created
01/03/2026 +162 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: kernel.org

Advisory: git.kernel.org
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2025-38407 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2025-38407
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-317620
CERT Bund: WID-SEC-2025-1653 - Linux Kernel: Mehrere Schwachstellen

Entryinfo

Created: 07/25/2025 15:33
Updated: 01/03/2026 19:53
Changes: 07/25/2025 15:33 (57), 08/20/2025 18:10 (7), 09/14/2025 18:38 (1), 09/16/2025 00:13 (1), 09/28/2025 22:02 (1), 10/26/2025 01:40 (2), 11/02/2025 10:14 (1), 11/17/2025 01:47 (1), 11/19/2025 20:49 (12), 01/03/2026 19:53 (1)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Discussion

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