CVE-2025-38433: Linux kernel · riscv: fix runtime constant support for nommu kernels
Source GCVE Database
Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.5 Medium.
Data as of 13 Nov 2026, 18:29 UTC
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:HExploitation evidence
Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 25 Jul 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.
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: riscv: fix runtime constant support for nommu kernels the `__runtime_fixup_32` function does not handle the case where `val` is zero correctly (as might occur when patching a nommu kernel and referring to a physical address below the 4GiB boundary whose upper 32 bits are all zero) because nothing in the existing logic prevents the code from taking the `else` branch of both nop-checks and emitting two `nop` instructions. This leaves random garbage in the register that is supposed to receive the upper 32 bits of the pointer instead of zero that when combined with the value for the lower 32 bits yields an invalid pointer and causes a kernel panic when that pointer is eventually accessed. The author clearly considered the fact that if the `lui` is converted into a `nop` that the second instruction needs to be adjusted to become an `li` instead of an `addi`, hence introducing the `addi_insn_mask` variable, but didn't follow that logic through fully to the case where the `else` branch executes. To fix it just adjust the logic to ensure that the second `else` branch is not taken if the first instruction will be patched to a `nop`.