Linux Kernel up to 6.1.146/6.6.99/6.12.39/6.15.7 drivers/regulator/core.c regulator_is_enabled state issue

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.1.146/6.6.99/6.12.39/6.15.7. It has been declared as problematic. Affected is the function regulator_is_enabled of the file drivers/regulator/core.c. Such manipulation leads to state issue. This vulnerability is documented as CVE-2025-38535. There is not any exploit available. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.1.146/6.6.99/6.12.39/6.15.7 and classified as problematic. Affected by this issue is the function regulator_is_enabled of the file drivers/regulator/core.c. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a state issue vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-371. The impact remains unknown. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: phy: tegra: xusb: Fix unbalanced regulator disable in UTMI PHY mode When transitioning from USB_ROLE_DEVICE to USB_ROLE_NONE, the code assumed that the regulator should be disabled. However, if the regulator is marked as always-on, regulator_is_enabled() continues to return true, leading to an incorrect attempt to disable a regulator which is not enabled. This can result in warnings such as: [ 250.155624] WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 7326 at drivers/regulator/core.c:3004 _regulator_disable+0xe4/0x1a0 [ 250.155652] unbalanced disables for VIN_SYS_5V0 To fix this, we move the regulator control logic into tegra186_xusb_padctl_id_override() function since it's directly related to the ID override state. The regulator is now only disabled when the role transitions from USB_ROLE_HOST to USB_ROLE_NONE, by checking the VBUS_ID register. This ensures that regulator enable/disable operations are properly balanced and only occur when actually transitioning to/from host mode.

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2025-38535 since 04/16/2025. 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 01/30/2026).

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 1bb85b5c2bd43b687c3d54eb6328917f90dd38fc/5367cdeb75cb6c687ca468450bceb2602ab239d8/ec7f98ff05f0649af0adeb4808c7ba23d6111ef9/eaa420339658615d26c1cc95cd6cf720b9aebfca/cefc1caee9dd06c69e2d807edc5949b329f52b22 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), EUVD (EUVD-2025-26110) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-1858). 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
• SUSE openSUSE
• RESF Rocky Linux
• Dell Avamar
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• Dell NetWorker
• Dell Secure Connect Gateway
• IBM QRadar SIEM
• IBM Security Verify Access

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.1.146
• 6.6.0
• 6.6.1
• 6.6.2
• 6.6.3
• 6.6.4
• 6.6.5
• 6.6.6
• 6.6.7
• 6.6.8
• 6.6.9
• 6.6.10
• 6.6.11
• 6.6.12
• 6.6.13
• 6.6.14
• 6.6.15
• 6.6.16
• 6.6.17
• 6.6.18
• 6.6.19
• 6.6.20
• 6.6.21
• 6.6.22
• 6.6.23
• 6.6.24
• 6.6.25
• 6.6.26
• 6.6.27
• 6.6.28
• 6.6.29
• 6.6.30
• 6.6.31
• 6.6.32
• 6.6.33
• 6.6.34
• 6.6.35
• 6.6.36
• 6.6.37
• 6.6.38
• 6.6.39
• 6.6.40
• 6.6.41
• 6.6.42
• 6.6.43
• 6.6.44
• 6.6.45
• 6.6.46
• 6.6.47
• 6.6.48
• 6.6.49
• 6.6.50
• 6.6.51
• 6.6.52
• 6.6.53
• 6.6.54
• 6.6.55
• 6.6.56
• 6.6.57
• 6.6.58
• 6.6.59
• 6.6.60
• 6.6.61
• 6.6.62
• 6.6.63
• 6.6.64
• 6.6.65
• 6.6.66
• 6.6.67
• 6.6.68
• 6.6.69
• 6.6.70
• 6.6.71
• 6.6.72
• 6.6.73
• 6.6.74
• 6.6.75
• 6.6.76
• 6.6.77
• 6.6.78
• 6.6.79
• 6.6.80
• 6.6.81
• 6.6.82
• 6.6.83
• 6.6.84
• 6.6.85
• 6.6.86
• 6.6.87
• 6.6.88
• 6.6.89
• 6.6.90
• 6.6.91
• 6.6.92
• 6.6.93
• 6.6.94
• 6.6.95
• 6.6.96
• 6.6.97
• 6.6.98
• 6.6.99
• 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
• 6.12.37
• 6.12.38
• 6.12.39
• 6.15.0
• 6.15.1
• 6.15.2
• 6.15.3
• 6.15.4
• 6.15.5
• 6.15.6
• 6.15.7

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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Entryinfo

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