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🛡️ CVE-2025-38086 — debian-linux

🟡 CVSS 5.5 — Medium ✅ No Known Exploit CWE-908 NVD
5.5
CVSS Score
0 Low4 Medium7 High9 Critical10

Description

net: ch9200: fix uninitialised access during mii_nway_restart

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net: ch9200: fix uninitialised access during mii_nway_restart

In mii_nway_restart() the code attempts to call

mii->mdio_read which is ch9200_mdio_read(). ch9200_mdio_read()

utilises a local buffer called "buff", which is initialised

with control_read(). However "buff" is conditionally

initialised inside control_read():

if (err == size) {

memcpy(data, buf, size);

}

If the condition of "err == size" is not met, then

"buff" remains uninitialised. Once this happens the

uninitialised "buff" is accessed and returned during

ch9200_mdio_read():

return (buff[0] | buff[1] << 8);

The problem stems from the fact that ch9200_mdio_read()

ignores the return value of control_read(), leading to

uinit-access of "buff".

To fix this we should check the return value of

control_read() and return early on error.

How this vulnerability can be exploited

This issue can be reached with local access to the system, attack complexity is low, an attacker needs low-level privileges on the target. No user interaction is required. The scope is unchanged, so the impact stays within the vulnerable component. Rated impact: confidentiality none, integrity none, availability high.

Weakness class

CVE-2025-38086 is classified as CWE-908: Use of Uninitialized Resource. A resource is read before being initialised, so its contents are whatever was left there.

Affected software

CVE-2025-38086 is recorded against 3 packages.

  • debian-linux
  • kernel (from 6.13.0 up to 6.15.4)
  • linux-kernel

Timeline and source

Published on 28 June 2025 and last revised on 17 June 2026. No public exploit is currently recorded for this entry. A vendor advisory or fix has been published. Record sourced from NVD.

References

git.kernel.org
git.kernel.org
git.kernel.org
git.kernel.org
git.kernel.org
git.kernel.org
git.kernel.org
git.kernel.org
lists.debian.org
lists.debian.org

CVE-2025-38086 on other distributions

Each distribution ships its own build and its own fixed version. Pick the one you run:

Details

Severity MEDIUM
CVSS Score 5.5
CVSS Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CWE CWE-908
Public Exploit ✅ No
Source NVD
Published 2025-06-28
Updated 2026-08-20
Modified 2026-06-17

Affected Packages

Software From version Fixed in
debian-linux — —
kernel 6.13.0 6.15.4
linux-kernel — —

References

Similar Threats

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