CVE-2025-38395
Description
From CVE.org
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: regulator: gpio: Fix the out-of-bounds access to drvdata::gpiods drvdata::gpiods is supposed to hold an array of 'gpio_desc' pointers. But the memory is allocated for only one pointer. This will lead to out-of-bounds access later in the code if 'config::ngpios' is > 1. So fix the code to allocate enough memory to hold 'config::ngpios' of GPIO descriptors. While at it, also move the check for memory allocation failure to be below the allocation to make it more readable.
Statement
This flaw is reachable only through privileged control paths: the attacker must be able to provision or modify kernel-space regulator configuration (e.g., device tree/ACPI tables, module parameters, or platform driver binding) to set ngpios > 1 and trigger allocation/use. Unprivileged users cannot influence the driver’s probe arguments or the size of the gpiods array at runtime. Therefore Privileges Required = High (PR:H), typically requiring root/CAP_SYS_ADMIN or build/boot-time control of the hardware description.
Mitigation
To mitigate this issue, prevent module gpio-regulator from being loaded. Please see https://access.redhat.com/solutions/41278 for how to blacklist a kernel module to prevent it from loading automatically.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 5.6 | 7.1 | 8.4 |
| Attack Vector | Local | Local | Local |
| Attack Complexity | Low | Low | Low |
| Privileges Required | High | Low | None |
| User Interaction | None | None | None |
| Scope | Unchanged | Unchanged | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | Low | High | High |
| Integrity Impact | Low | None | High |
| Availability Impact | High | High | High |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:H
NVD: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart; DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU); DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory)
Buffer overflows generally lead to crashes. Other attacks leading to lack of availability are possible, including putting the program into an infinite loop.
Integrity,Confidentiality,Availability,Access Control
Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands; Bypass Protection Mechanism; Modify Memory
Buffer overflows often can be used to execute arbitrary code, which is usually outside the scope of a program's implicit security policy. Besides important user data, heap-based overflows can be used to overwrite function pointers that may be living in memory, pointing it to the attacker's code. Even in applications that do not explicitly use function pointers, the run-time will usually leave many in memory. For example, object methods in C++ are generally implemented using function pointers. Even in C programs, there is often a global offset table used by the underlying runtime.
Integrity,Confidentiality,Availability,Access Control,Other
Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands; Bypass Protection Mechanism; Other
When the consequence is arbitrary code execution, this can often be used to subvert any other security service.
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