Cloudanix VulnDB

CVE-2025-38215

Medium · 5.5

CVSS

5.5

EPSS

0.2%

Published

Jul 4, 2025

CISA due date

—

Cloudanix analysis

Schedule a fix SSVC: Track

A bug in the Linux kernel can let a local user crash the entire computer by triggering certain display operations after a memory allocation quietly fails.

Exploitation
Local Privilege
Attacker needs
Low Privilege
Complexity
Low
Impact
Denial Of Service
Component
OS kernel
Class
Memory Corruption
Remediation
Upgrade
Effort
Medium
Patch risk
Low

What it actually does

Failure to allocate memory for fb_videomode in do_register_framebuffer leaves the registered fb_info without the expected mode in its modelist, causing a null pointer dereference in fb_videomode_to_var when later framebuffer operations such as console resize or mode change occur.

Why it matters to the business

Local users or processes on affected Linux systems can trigger kernel panics that crash the machine, interrupting services, workloads, and availability until the system is restarted.

How an attack unfolds

An attacker with local access issues framebuffer-related ioctls or triggers console resize operations that invoke fbcon_resize and ultimately fb_videomode_to_var on a framebuffer registered without a valid modelist entry, resulting in the dereference and crash.

How to fix it

Update the Linux kernel to a version containing commit 908c5bb64f9c4319902b8ca1aa3fef8f83302520 or later; for Chainguard images update beats-fips-9, auditbeat-fips-9, filebeat-fips-9, heartbeat-fips-9, metricbeat-fips-9 and related packages to 9.0.2-r2 or newer.

How to confirm the fix worked

Verify the running kernel contains the fix commit or package version 9.0.2-r2+, then attempt framebuffer registration and console resize operations under memory pressure to confirm no crash occurs.

Typical attack path

  1. Obtain local access to the system
  2. Open or interact with /dev/fb* or perform console operations that cause fbcon_modechanged or vc_do_resize
  3. Trigger the code path that calls fb_videomode_to_var on the incompletely registered framebuffer
  4. Cause the null pointer dereference and kernel panic

How to detect it

Review kernel logs for general protection faults or KASAN reports mentioning fb_videomode_to_var, fbcon_resize, or do_register_framebuffer; correlate with processes performing fb ioctls or console resizes around the time of the crash.

What your security team should do

  • Prioritize patching kernel and affected Chainguard packages to the listed fixed versions within normal change windows given low EPSS and absence from KEV
  • Restrict unprivileged local access to framebuffer and console devices where feasible
  • Monitor for kernel oops and general protection faults referencing fb_videomode_to_var or fbcon_resize

The record

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: fbdev: Fix do_register_framebuffer to prevent null-ptr-deref in fb_videomode_to_var If fb_add_videomode() in do_register_framebuffer() fails to allocate memory for fb_videomode, it will later lead to a null-ptr dereference in fb_videomode_to_var(), as the fb_info is registered while not having the mode in modelist that is expected to be there, i.e. the one that is described in fb_info->var. ================================================================ general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc0000000001: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP KASAN NOPTI KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000008-0x000000000000000f] CPU: 1 PID: 30371 Comm: syz-executor.1 Not tainted 5.10.226-syzkaller #0 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.12.0-1 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:fb_videomode_to_var+0x24/0x610 drivers/video/fbdev/core/modedb.c:901 Call Trace: display_to_var+0x3a/0x7c0 drivers/video/fbdev/core/fbcon.c:929 fbcon_resize+0x3e2/0x8f0 drivers/video/fbdev/core/fbcon.c:2071 resize_screen drivers/tty/vt/vt.c:1176 [inline] vc_do_resize+0x53a/0x1170 drivers/tty/vt/vt.c:1263 fbcon_modechanged+0x3ac/0x6e0 drivers/video/fbdev/core/fbcon.c:2720 fbcon_update_vcs+0x43/0x60 drivers/video/fbdev/core/fbcon.c:2776 do_fb_ioctl+0x6d2/0x740 drivers/video/fbdev/core/fbmem.c:1128 fb_ioctl+0xe7/0x150 drivers/video/fbdev/core/fbmem.c:1203 vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:48 [inline] __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:753 [inline] __se_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:739 [inline] __x64_sys_ioctl+0x19a/0x210 fs/ioctl.c:739 do_syscall_64+0x33/0x40 arch/x86/entry/common.c:46 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x67/0xd1 ================================================================ Even though fbcon_init() checks beforehand if fb_match_mode() in var_to_display() fails, it can not prevent the panic because fbcon_init() does not return error code. Considering this and the comment in the code about fb_match_mode() returning NULL - "This should not happen" - it is better to prevent registering the fb_info if its mode was not set successfully. Also move fb_add_videomode() closer to the beginning of do_register_framebuffer() to avoid having to do the cleanup on fail. Found by Linux Verification Center (linuxtesting.org) with Syzkaller.

Affected packages

Ecosystem Package Introduced Fixed
Debian:11 linux 0 No fix
Debian:12 linux 0 No fix
Debian:13 linux 0 No fix
Debian:14 linux 0 6.12.35-1
Linux Kernel 2.6.12 6.1.143
Mageia:9 kernel 0 6.6.101-1.mga9
Mageia:9 kernel-linus 0 6.6.101-1.mga9
Mageia:9 kmod-virtualbox 0 7.1.10-7.mga9
Mageia:9 kmod-xtables-addons 0 3.24-83.mga9
Mageia:9 wireless-regdb 0 20250710-1.mga9
SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP6 kernel-default 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP6 kernel-default 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP6 kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP6-RT_Update_14 0 1-150600.1.5.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP6 kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP6_Update_14 0 1-150600.13.3.4
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP7 kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP7-RT_Update_3 0 1-150700.1.5.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP6 kernel-64kb 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP6 kernel-default 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP6 kernel-default-base 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1.150600.12.28.4
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP6 kernel-source 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP6 kernel-zfcpdump 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Confidential Computing Technical Preview 15 SP6 kernel-coco 0 6.4.0-15061.28.coco15sp6.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Confidential Computing Technical Preview 15 SP6 kernel-coco_debug 0 6.4.0-15061.28.coco15sp6.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Confidential Computing Technical Preview 15 SP6 kernel-source-coco 0 6.4.0-15061.28.coco15sp6.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Confidential Computing Technical Preview 15 SP6 kernel-syms-coco 0 6.4.0-15061.28.coco15sp6.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP6 kernel-docs 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP6 kernel-obs-build 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP6 kernel-source 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP6 kernel-syms 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Legacy 15 SP6 kernel-default 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Public Cloud 15 SP6 kernel-azure 0 6.4.0-150600.8.48.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Public Cloud 15 SP6 kernel-source-azure 0 6.4.0-150600.8.48.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Public Cloud 15 SP6 kernel-syms-azure 0 6.4.0-150600.8.48.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Workstation Extension 15 SP6 kernel-default 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
SUSE:Real Time Module 15 SP6 kernel-rt 0 6.4.0-150600.10.49.1
SUSE:Real Time Module 15 SP6 kernel-rt_debug 0 6.4.0-150600.10.49.1
SUSE:Real Time Module 15 SP6 kernel-source-rt 0 6.4.0-150600.10.49.1
SUSE:Real Time Module 15 SP6 kernel-syms-rt 0 6.4.0-150600.10.49.1
SUSE:Real Time Module 15 SP7 kernel-rt 0 6.4.0-150700.7.13.1
SUSE:Real Time Module 15 SP7 kernel-source-rt 0 6.4.0-150700.7.13.1
SUSE:Real Time Module 15 SP7 kernel-syms-rt 0 6.4.0-150700.7.13.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 dtb-aarch64 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-64kb 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-azure 0 6.4.0-150600.8.48.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-debug 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-default 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-default-base 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1.150600.12.28.4
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-docs 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-kvmsmall 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-obs-build 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-obs-qa 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-rt 0 6.4.0-150600.10.49.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-rt_debug 0 6.4.0-150600.10.49.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-source 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-source-azure 0 6.4.0-150600.8.48.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-source-rt 0 6.4.0-150600.10.49.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-syms 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-syms-azure 0 6.4.0-150600.8.48.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-syms-rt 0 6.4.0-150600.10.49.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6 kernel-zfcpdump 0 6.4.0-150600.23.65.1
openSUSE:Leap 16.0 dtb-aarch64 0 6.12.0-160000.6.1
openSUSE:Leap 16.0 kernel-64kb 0 6.12.0-160000.6.1
openSUSE:Leap 16.0 kernel-default 0 6.12.0-160000.6.1
openSUSE:Leap 16.0 kernel-default-base 0 6.12.0-160000.6.1.160000.2.4
openSUSE:Leap 16.0 kernel-docs 0 6.12.0-160000.6.1
openSUSE:Leap 16.0 kernel-kvmsmall 0 6.12.0-160000.6.1
openSUSE:Leap 16.0 kernel-obs-build 0 6.12.0-160000.6.1
openSUSE:Leap 16.0 kernel-obs-qa 0 6.12.0-160000.6.1
openSUSE:Leap 16.0 kernel-rt 0 6.12.0-160000.6.1
openSUSE:Leap 16.0 kernel-source 0 6.12.0-160000.6.1
openSUSE:Leap 16.0 kernel-syms 0 6.12.0-160000.6.1
openSUSE:Leap 16.0 kernel-zfcpdump 0 6.12.0-160000.6.1

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