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🛡️ CVE-2025-38609 — debian-linux

🟡 CVSS 5.5 — Medium ✅ No Known Exploit CWE-476 NVD
5.5
CVSS Score
0 Low4 Medium7 High9 Critical10

Description

PM / devfreq: Check governor before using governor->name

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

PM / devfreq: Check governor before using governor->name

Commit 96ffcdf239de ("PM / devfreq: Remove redundant governor_name from

struct devfreq") removes governor_name and uses governor->name to replace

it. But devfreq->governor may be NULL and directly using

devfreq->governor->name may cause null pointer exception. Move the check of

governor to before using governor->name.

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-2025-38609 is classified as CWE-476: NULL Pointer Dereference. A pointer that can be null is used without a check, crashing the process.

Affected software

CVE-2025-38609 is recorded against 3 packages.

  • debian-linux
  • kernel (from 6.16.0 up to 6.16.1)
  • linux-kernel (from 6.16 up to 6.16.1)

Timeline and source

Published on 19 August 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
lists.debian.org

CVE-2025-38609 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-476
Public Exploit ✅ No
Source NVD
Published 2025-08-19
Updated 2026-08-20
Modified 2026-06-17

Affected Packages

Software From version Fixed in
debian-linux — —
kernel 6.16.0 6.16.1
linux-kernel 6.16 6.16.1

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