CVE-2025-38735

5.5 MEDIUM
Published: September 05, 2025 Modified: January 08, 2026

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: gve: prevent ethtool ops after shutdown A crash can occur if an ethtool operation is invoked after shutdown() is called. shutdown() is invoked during system shutdown to stop DMA operations without performing expensive deallocations. It is discouraged to unregister the netdev in this path, so the device may still be visible to userspace and kernel helpers. In gve, shutdown() tears down most internal data structures. If an ethtool operation is dispatched after shutdown(), it will dereference freed or NULL pointers, leading to a kernel panic. While graceful shutdown normally quiesces userspace before invoking the reboot syscall, forced shutdowns (as observed on GCP VMs) can still trigger this path. Fix by calling netif_device_detach() in shutdown(). This marks the device as detached so the ethtool ioctl handler will skip dispatching operations to the driver.

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CVSS v3.x Details

0.0 Low Medium High Critical 10.0
Vector String
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools

Patch Vendor Advisory Exploit Third Party Advisory
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/48a4e89d50e8ea52e800bc7865970b92fcf4647c
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/75a9a46d67f46d608205888f9b34e315c1786345
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9d8a41e9a4ff83ff666de811e7f012167cdc00e9
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a7efffeecb881b4649fdc30de020ef910f35d646
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ba51d73408edf815cbaeab148625576c2dd90192
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
Patch
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/10/msg00008.html
Source: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
Third Party Advisory Mailing List

6 reference(s) from NVD

Quick Stats

CVSS v3 Score
5.5 / 10.0
EPSS (Exploit Probability)
0.0%
5th percentile
Exploitation Status
Not in CISA KEV

Weaknesses (CWE)

Affected Vendors

debian linux