Vulnerability · Published Sep 4, 2025 · Assigned by Linux

CVE-2025-38682i2c: core: Fix double-free of fwnode in i2c_unregister_device()

High 7.8

In plain English

A high-severity security flaw in Linux from Linux. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.2% (higher than 5% of all known vulnerabilities).

Severity (CVSS NVD)7.8High
Exploit odds (30 days)0.2%top 95.1% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsnot in CISA KEV
Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: i2c: core: Fix double-free of fwnode in i2c_unregister_device() Before commit df6d7277e552 ("i2c: core: Do not dereference fwnode in struct device"), i2c_unregister_device() only called fwnode_handle_put() on of_node-s in the form of calling of_node_put(client->dev.of_node). But after this commit the i2c_client's fwnode now unconditionally gets fwnode_handle_put() on it. When the i2c_client has no primary (ACPI / OF) fwnode but it does have a software fwnode, the software-node will be the primary node and fwnode_handle_put() will put() it. But for the software fwnode device_remove_software_node() will also put() it leading to a double free: [ 82.665598] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 82.665609] refcount_t: underflow; use-after-free. [ 82.665808] WARNING: CPU: 3 PID: 1502 at lib/refcount.c:28 refcount_warn_saturate+0xba/0x11 ... [ 82.666830] RIP: 0010:refcount_warn_saturate+0xba/0x110 ... [ 82.666962] <TASK> [ 82.666971] i2c_unregister_device+0x60/0x90 Fix this by not calling fwnode_handle_put() when the primary fwnode is a software-node.

Affected packages & fixed versions

EcosystemPackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-allwinner-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-intelno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-intel-iot-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-5.17no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.0no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.1no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.8no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracle-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-raspi-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38682

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
Linux Linux df6d7277e5525d6cce63127dd93ebec4c6354fa0 – before ffe02f7c4e36090154646612e67d331832f92037df6d7277e5525d6cce63127dd93ebec4c6354fa0 – before 1c24e5fc0c7096e00c202a6a3e0c342c1afb47c2
Linux Linux 6.16

References