VDB-317892 · CVE-2025-38481 · Nessus 270134

Linux Kernel up to 6.1.146/6.6.99/6.12.39/6.15.7 COMEDI_INSNLIST n_insns buffer overflow

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6.6	$0-$5k	0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability categorized as critical has been discovered in Linux Kernel up to 6.1.146/6.6.99/6.12.39/6.15.7. This vulnerability affects the function COMEDI_INSNLIST. The manipulation of the argument n_insns results in buffer overflow. This vulnerability is reported as CVE-2025-38481. No exploit exists. It is advisable to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.1.146/6.6.99/6.12.39/6.15.7. Affected is the function COMEDI_INSNLIST. The manipulation of the argument n_insns with an unknown input leads to a buffer overflow vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-120. The product copies an input buffer to an output buffer without verifying that the size of the input buffer is less than the size of the output buffer, leading to a buffer overflow. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: comedi: Fail COMEDI_INSNLIST ioctl if n_insns is too large The handling of the `COMEDI_INSNLIST` ioctl allocates a kernel buffer to hold the array of `struct comedi_insn`, getting the length from the `n_insns` member of the `struct comedi_insnlist` supplied by the user. The allocation will fail with a WARNING and a stack dump if it is too large. Avoid that by failing with an `-EINVAL` error if the supplied `n_insns` value is unreasonable. Define the limit on the `n_insns` value in the `MAX_INSNS` macro. Set this to the same value as `MAX_SAMPLES` (65536), which is the maximum allowed sum of the values of the member `n` in the array of `struct comedi_insn`, and sensible comedi instructions will have an `n` of at least 1.

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2025-38481 since 04/16/2025. The exploitability is told to be easy. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $0-$5k (estimation calculated on 01/25/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 270134 (Debian dla-4328 : linux-config-6.1 - security update), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.1.147, 6.6.100, 6.12.40 or 6.15.8 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch d4c73ce13f5b5a0fe0319f1f352ff602f0ace8e3/c9d3d9667443caafa804cd07940aeaef8e53aa90/992d600f284e719242a434166e86c1999649b71c/e3b8322cc8081d142ee4c1a43e1d702bdba1ed76/08ae4b20f5e82101d77326ecab9089e110f224cc 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 (270134) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-1665). Once again VulDB remains the best source 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
NetApp ActiveIQ Unified Manager
Dell PowerProtect Data Domain
Open Source Linux Kernel
Dell NetWorker
Dell Secure Connect Gateway
IBM Security Verify Access

Productinfo

Type

Operating System

Vendor

Linux

Name

Kernel

Version

License

open-source

Website

Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 6.8
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 6.6

VulDB Base Score: 8.0
VulDB Temp Score: 7.6
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

NVD Base Score: 5.5
NVD Vector: 🔒

CVSSv2info

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

Exploitinginfo

Class: Buffer overflow
CWE: CWE-120 / CWE-119
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: Partially
Local: Yes
Remote: Partially

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined

EPSS Score: 🔒
EPSS Percentile: 🔒

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒