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🛡️ CVE-2025-38198 — debian-linux

🟠 CVSS 7.8 — High ✅ No Known Exploit CWE-129 NVD
7.8
CVSS Score
0 Low4 Medium7 High9 Critical10

Description

fbcon: Make sure modelist not set on unregistered console

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

fbcon: Make sure modelist not set on unregistered console

It looks like attempting to write to the "store_modes" sysfs node will

run afoul of unregistered consoles:

UBSAN: array-index-out-of-bounds in drivers/video/fbdev/core/fbcon.c:122:28

index -1 is out of range for type 'fb_info *[32]'

...

fbcon_info_from_console+0x192/0x1a0 drivers/video/fbdev/core/fbcon.c:122

fbcon_new_modelist+0xbf/0x2d0 drivers/video/fbdev/core/fbcon.c:3048

fb_new_modelist+0x328/0x440 drivers/video/fbdev/core/fbmem.c:673

store_modes+0x1c9/0x3e0 drivers/video/fbdev/core/fbsysfs.c:113

dev_attr_store+0x55/0x80 drivers/base/core.c:2439

static struct fb_info *fbcon_registered_fb[FB_MAX];

...

static signed char con2fb_map[MAX_NR_CONSOLES];

...

static struct fb_info *fbcon_info_from_console(int console)

...

return fbcon_registered_fb[con2fb_map[console]];

If con2fb_map contains a -1 things go wrong here. Instead, return NULL,

as callers of fbcon_info_from_console() are trying to compare against

existing "info" pointers, so error handling should kick in correctly.

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 high, integrity high, availability high.

Weakness class

CVE-2025-38198 is classified as CWE-129: Improper Validation of Array Index. An index derived from input is used without a range check, so the access lands outside the array.

Affected software

CVE-2025-38198 is recorded against 3 packages.

  • debian-linux
  • kernel (from 6.13.0 up to 6.15.4)
  • linux-kernel (from 6.13 up to 6.15.4)

Timeline and source

Published on 4 July 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
lists.debian.org
cert-portal.siemens.com

CVE-2025-38198 on other distributions

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

Details

Severity HIGH
CVSS Score 7.8
CVSS Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CWE CWE-129
Public Exploit ✅ No
Source NVD
Published 2025-07-04
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 6.13 6.15.4

Similar Threats

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