VulnerabilityPublished 18 Jun 2025Updated 14 Nov 2025

CVE-2025-38016: Linux kernel · HID: bpf: abort dispatch if device destroyed

Source GCVE Database

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Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.5 Medium.

Data as of 13 Nov 2026, 18:58 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

5.5Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Attack Vector: Local
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: None
Availability: High

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Local: The vulnerable component is not bound to the network stack and the attacker’s path is via read/write/execute capabilities. Either: the attacker exploits the vulnerability by accessing the target system locally (e.g., keyboard, console), or remotely (e.g., SSH); or the attacker relies on User Interaction by another person to perform actions required to exploit the vulnerability (e.g., tricking a legitimate user into opening a malicious document).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: High: There is total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 18 Jun 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 13 Nov 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponized: A Metasploit exploit module or Exploit-DB entry exists (Metasploit scanner modules do not count), or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

ghsa-jvgv-wf9f-5wjp

What to do

AI-suggested

A fix is available as described in the Linux kernel commit that adds early returns in the affected dispatch functions when the device is marked destroyed. Users should update to the fixed kernel versions once released. There is no indication that the issue is mitigated by configuration or that no action is required. Since this is a kernel vulnerability, applying the official kernel patch or upgrading to a fixed kernel release is the recommended mitigation.

Description

CVE-2025-38016 is a vulnerability in the Linux kernel's HID subsystem related to the bpf dispatch mechanism. It occurs when certain HID devices with LEDs are unplugged, causing the system to access cleaned-up SRCU structures, leading to potential memory corruption. The issue arises if the HID driver does not implement the request() function, causing delayed LED work to attempt output reports after device destruction. This bug has existed since the introduction of dispatch_hid_bpf_output_report() and affects the stability of the kernel on affected systems.

Impact

The vulnerability causes the Linux kernel to access cleaned-up SRCU structures after a HID device is destroyed, leading to memory corruption and potential system instability or crashes. It does not directly compromise confidentiality or integrity but results in availability impact (denial of service or kernel crash). The CVSS score is 5.5 (medium severity) with local attack vector, low complexity, low privileges required, no user interaction, and no confidentiality or integrity impact but high availability impact.

Summary

The vulnerability in the Linux kernel HID bpf implementation involves a use-after-free or use-after-destruction condition triggered when a device with LEDs is unplugged and the driver lacks an implementation of hid_ll_driver->request(). After hid_bpf_destroy_device() is called, the system incorrectly schedules hidinput_led_worker(), which attempts to send output reports via dispatch_hid_bpf_output_report() or dispatch_hid_bpf_raw_requests(). These functions access a cleaned-up SRCU structure, causing access to invalid memory pages, especially on x86 architectures due to recent percpu changes. The fix involves early returns in these dispatch functions if the device is marked destroyed, preventing the invalid access. The impact on other architectures is unclear but potentially dangerous due to memory corruption risks.

References

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