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).

Severity (CVSS NVD)5.5Medium
Exploit odds (30 days)0.1%top 96.6% 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: 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

EcosystemPackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-allwinner-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:25.10linux-azure-fdeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-nvidia-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-intelno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-intel-iot-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-5.17no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.0no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.1no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.8no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oracle-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracle-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-raspi-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-riscv-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38689

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
Linux Linux 22aafe3bcb67472effdea1ccf0df20280192bbaf – before 2ca887e81095b99d890a8878841f36f4920181e622aafe3bcb67472effdea1ccf0df20280192bbaf – before 31cd31c9e17ece125aad27259501a2af69ccb020
Linux Linux 6.16

References