Vulnerability · Published Sep 4, 2025 · Assigned by Linux
CVE-2025-38689x86/fpu: Fix NULL dereference in avx512_status()
Medium 5.5
In plain English
A medium-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 0.1% (higher than 3% of all known vulnerabilities).
Official description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: x86/fpu: Fix NULL dereference in avx512_status() Problem ------- With CONFIG_X86_DEBUG_FPU enabled, reading /proc/[kthread]/arch_status causes a warning and a NULL pointer dereference. This is because the AVX-512 timestamp code uses x86_task_fpu() but doesn't check it for NULL. CONFIG_X86_DEBUG_FPU addles that function for kernel threads (PF_KTHREAD specifically), making it return NULL. The point of the warning was to ensure that kernel threads only access task->fpu after going through kernel_fpu_begin()/_end(). Note: all kernel tasks exposed in /proc have a valid task->fpu. Solution -------- One option is to silence the warning and check for NULL from x86_task_fpu(). However, that warning is fairly fresh and seems like a defense against misuse of the FPU state in kernel threads. Instead, stop outputting AVX-512_elapsed_ms for kernel threads altogether. The data was garbage anyway because avx512_timestamp is only updated for user threads, not kernel threads. If anyone ever wants to track kernel thread AVX-512 use, they can come back later and do it properly, separate from this bug fix. [ dhansen: mostly rewrite changelog ]
Affected packages & fixed versions
| Ecosystem | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | linux-allwinner-5.19 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | linux-aws-5.19 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:24.04:LTS | linux-aws-6.14 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | linux-aws-6.2 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | linux-aws-6.5 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | linux-azure-5.19 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:24.04:LTS | linux-azure-6.11 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:24.04:LTS | linux-azure-6.14 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | linux-azure-6.2 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | linux-azure-6.5 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:25.10 | linux-azure-fde | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | linux-azure-fde-5.19 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:24.04:LTS | linux-azure-fde-6.14 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | linux-azure-fde-6.2 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:24.04:LTS | linux-azure-nvidia-6.14 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | linux-gcp-5.19 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:24.04:LTS | linux-gcp-6.11 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:24.04:LTS | linux-gcp-6.14 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | linux-gcp-6.2 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | linux-gcp-6.5 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | linux-hwe-5.19 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:24.04:LTS | linux-hwe-6.11 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:24.04:LTS | linux-hwe-6.14 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | linux-hwe-6.2 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | linux-hwe-6.5 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:24.04:LTS | linux-intel | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | linux-intel-iot-realtime | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:24.04:LTS | linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.11 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:24.04:LTS | linux-nvidia-6.11 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | linux-nvidia-6.2 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | linux-nvidia-6.5 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | linux-oem-5.17 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | linux-oem-6.0 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | linux-oem-6.1 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:24.04:LTS | linux-oem-6.11 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:24.04:LTS | linux-oem-6.14 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | linux-oem-6.5 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:24.04:LTS | linux-oem-6.8 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:24.04:LTS | linux-oracle-6.14 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | linux-oracle-6.5 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:24.04:LTS | linux-raspi-realtime | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | linux-realtime | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:24.04:LTS | linux-realtime | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | linux-riscv | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:24.04:LTS | linux-riscv | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | linux-riscv-5.19 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:24.04:LTS | linux-riscv-6.14 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | linux-riscv-6.5 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | linux-starfive-5.19 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | linux-starfive-6.2 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | linux-starfive-6.5 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689 |