VulnerabilityPublished 18 Jun 2025Updated 14 Nov 2025

CVE-2025-38036: Linux kernel · drm/xe/vf: Perform early GT MMIO initialization to read GMDID

Source GCVE Database

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Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.5 Medium.

Data as of 13 Nov 2026, 18:51 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-gvpw-xr49-hcwq

What to do

AI-suggested

A fix has been implemented in the Linux kernel to perform early GT MMIO initialization, preventing the null pointer dereference and kernel crash. Users should update to the fixed kernel version once available. No alternative mitigations or workarounds are indicated.

Description

CVE-2025-38036 is a vulnerability in the Linux kernel's drm/xe/vf driver where early GT MMIO initialization was not performed, causing attempts by virtual functions (VFs) to communicate with the GuC to fail and potentially crash the system. The issue arises because the GT's MMIO members are initialized too late, leading to page faults when GuC functions try to access unset MMIO register addresses. The fix involves performing early MMIO setup to ensure proper GuC communication.

Impact

The vulnerability can cause a denial of service (DoS) via a kernel crash (null pointer dereference) when a VF attempts to communicate with the GuC due to unset MMIO register addresses. There is no impact on confidentiality or integrity reported. The CVSS score is 5.5 (medium severity), reflecting local attack vector with low complexity and no user interaction required, resulting in availability impact only.

Summary

This vulnerability affects the Linux kernel's drm/xe/vf driver, where recent refactoring delayed the initialization of the GT's MMIO members. Virtual functions (VFs) require communication with the GuC to obtain the GMDID value, but the GuC functions assume MMIO is already initialized. The delayed initialization causes calls to xe_mmio_read|write() to access unset MMIO register addresses, resulting in a null pointer dereference (NPD) and a kernel crash. The resolution is to perform early GT MMIO initialization by calling xe_gt_mmio_init() before GuC communication, restoring the expected MMIO setup and preventing crashes.

References

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