Linux Kernel up to 6.15.6 pinctrl denial of service

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CTI Interest Score
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5.5$0-$5k0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.15.6. It has been rated as critical. This vulnerability affects unknown code of the component pinctrl. The manipulation leads to denial of service. This vulnerability is documented as CVE-2025-38516. There is not any exploit available. Upgrading the affected component is advised.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.15.6. This issue affects an unknown function of the component pinctrl. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a denial of service vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-404. The product does not release or incorrectly releases a resource before it is made available for re-use. Impacted is availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: pinctrl: qcom: msm: mark certain pins as invalid for interrupts On some platforms, the UFS-reset pin has no interrupt logic in TLMM but is nevertheless registered as a GPIO in the kernel. This enables the user-space to trigger a BUG() in the pinctrl-msm driver by running, for example: `gpiomon -c 0 113` on RB2. The exact culprit is requesting pins whose intr_detection_width setting is not 1 or 2 for interrupts. This hits a BUG() in msm_gpio_irq_set_type(). Potentially crashing the kernel due to an invalid request from user-space is not optimal, so let's go through the pins and mark those that would fail the check as invalid for the irq chip as we should not even register them as available irqs. This function can be extended if we determine that there are more corner-cases like this.

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2025-38516 since 04/16/2025. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not publicly available.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 259986 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2025-38516), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 5.4.296, 5.10.240, 5.15.189, 6.1.146, 6.6.99, 6.12.39 or 6.15.7 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 6a89563ccf9cd0d745e2291302878a061508573f/3f8fc02c2582c1dfad1785e9c7bc8b4e1521af0a/cb4b08a095b1fa4b3fca782757517e4e9a917d8e/cc145e02d6b8494c48f91958d52fa76b7e577f7b/1d57f7132662e96aace3b8a000616efde289aae1/275605a8b48002fe98675a5c06f3e39c09067ff2/97c9c7daeeb00c6e1d5e84084041f79c2d2dce22/93712205ce2f1fb047739494c0399a26ea4f0890 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 (259986), EUVD (EUVD-2025-25082) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-1858). 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
  • 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

Vendor

Name

Version

License

Website

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 5.6
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 5.5

VulDB Base Score: 5.7
VulDB Temp Score: 5.5
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

NVD Base Score: 5.5
NVD Vector: 🔒

CVSSv2info

AVACAuCIA
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VectorComplexityAuthenticationConfidentialityIntegrityAvailability
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VulDB Base Score: 🔒
VulDB Temp Score: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Denial of service
CWE: CWE-404
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: Partially
Local: Yes
Remote: Partially

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined

EPSS Score: 🔒
EPSS Percentile: 🔒

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒

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Nessus ID: 259986
Nessus Name: Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2025-38516

Threat Intelligenceinfo

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

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔒

Upgrade: Kernel 5.4.296/5.10.240/5.15.189/6.1.146/6.6.99/6.12.39/6.15.7
Patch: 6a89563ccf9cd0d745e2291302878a061508573f/3f8fc02c2582c1dfad1785e9c7bc8b4e1521af0a/cb4b08a095b1fa4b3fca782757517e4e9a917d8e/cc145e02d6b8494c48f91958d52fa76b7e577f7b/1d57f7132662e96aace3b8a000616efde289aae1/275605a8b48002fe98675a5c06f3e39c09067ff2/97c9c7daeeb00c6e1d5e84084041f79c2d2dce22/93712205ce2f1fb047739494c0399a26ea4f0890

Timelineinfo

04/16/2025 CVE reserved
08/16/2025 +122 days Advisory disclosed
08/16/2025 +0 days VulDB entry created
01/30/2026 +167 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: kernel.org

Advisory: git.kernel.org
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2025-38516 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2025-38516
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-320411
EUVD: 🔒
CERT Bund: WID-SEC-2025-1858 - Linux Kernel: Mehrere Schwachstellen

Entryinfo

Created: 08/16/2025 18:06
Updated: 01/30/2026 18:08
Changes: 08/16/2025 18:06 (58), 08/16/2025 18:21 (1), 08/19/2025 10:17 (1), 09/01/2025 06:31 (2), 09/28/2025 07:48 (7), 10/02/2025 23:22 (1), 10/12/2025 16:40 (1), 11/01/2025 18:51 (1), 01/07/2026 18:52 (10), 01/30/2026 18:08 (1)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

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