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CVE-2025-38689

5.5 medium Analyzed

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: x86/fpu: Fix NULL dereference in avx512_status() Problem ------- With CONFIG_X86_DEBUG_FPU enabled, reading /proc/[kthread]/arch_status causes a warning and a NULL pointer dereference. This is because the AVX-512 timestamp code uses x86_task_fpu() but doesn't check it for NULL. CONFIG_X86_DEBUG_FPU addles that function for kernel threads (PF_KTHREAD specifically), making it return NULL. The point of the warning was to ensure that kernel threads only access task->fpu after going through kernel_fpu_begin()/_end(). Note: all kernel tasks exposed in /proc have a valid task->fpu. Solution -------- One option is to silence the warning and check for NULL from x86_task_fpu(). However, that warning is fairly fresh and seems like a defense against misuse of the FPU state in kernel threads. Instead, stop outputting AVX-512_elapsed_ms for kernel threads altogether. The data was garbage anyway because avx512_timestamp is only updated for user threads, not kernel threads. If anyone ever wants to track kernel thread AVX-512 use, they can come back later and do it properly, separate from this bug fix. [ dhansen: mostly rewrite changelog ]

Fix

Patch, vendor advisory and mitigation references on NVD 2

Every line above is quoted from NVD, CISA, Microsoft, the vendor's own advisory or DISA; nothing is generated.

Change history 1

  1. First seenCVSS 5.5 · linuxNVD modified 2026-10-19 21:10

Affected (CPE criteria) 2

  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.17:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*

References 2