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NVD / CVE Program· CNA Linux

CVE-2025-38735: gve: prevent ethtool ops after shutdown

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 22/100)

  • The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
  • Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 0.17% (FIRST EPSS).
  • Someone with local access to the system can trigger it. A low-privileged account is enough. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
  • Fixed version: Linux Linux 48a4e89d50e8ea52e800bc7865970b92fcf4647c, 75a9a46d67f46d608205888f9b34e315c1786345, 9d8a41e9a4ff83ff666de811e7f012167cdc00e9.
  • Severity is disputed: the assigning authority (CNA) scores it 7.8, NVD 5.5.

Low priority for now. Upgrade to Linux Linux 48a4e89d50e8ea52e800bc7865970b92fcf4647c, 75a9a46d67f46d608205888f9b34e315c1786345, 9d8a41e9a4ff83ff666de811e7f012167cdc00e9 or later.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: gve: prevent ethtool ops after shutdown A crash can occur if an ethtool operation is invoked after shutdown() is called. shutdown() is invoked during system shutdown to stop DMA operations without performing expensive deallocations. It is discouraged to unregister the netdev in this path, so the device may still be visible to userspace and kernel helpers. In gve, shutdown() tears down most internal data structures. If an ethtool operation is dispatched after shutdown(), it will dereference freed or NULL pointers, leading to a kernel panic. While graceful shutdown normally quiesces userspace before invoking the reboot syscall, forced shutdowns (as observed on GCP VMs) can still trigger this path. Fix by calling netif_device_detach() in shutdown(). This marks the device as detached so the ethtool ioctl handler will skip dispatching operations to the driver.

MediumCVSS 5.5 · v3.1—No exploit Fix available
Published
Sep 5, 2025
Updated
Oct 19, 2026
EPSS
0.1% · 6th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

22

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
22 / 40 · 5.5 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
0 / 30 · 0.1%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
total

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

CNA vs NVD score

NVD
5.5
CNA · Linux
7.8
2.3 point gap

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

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Get told when this record changes

  • Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
  • No public exploit code on record
  • A fix has been released

If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.

Follow CVE-2025-38735

When you'll hear from us

  • when it enters CISA KEV
  • when exploit code appears or is weaponized
  • when the record is updated (including a fixed version)
  • when EPSS rises 20 points in a week

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

VendorProduct
linuxlinux kernel
debiandebian linux

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • debian debian linux11.0
  • linux linux kernel5.17 and later · before 6.1.149
  • linux linux kernel6.2 and later · before 6.6.103
  • linux linux kernel6.7 and later · before 6.12.44
  • linux linux kernel6.13 and later · before 6.16.4
  • linux linux kernel6.17

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (Linux). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

  • Linux Linux

    • 5.17affected
    • 974365e518617c9ce917f61aacbba07e4bedcca0 and later · before 48a4e89d50e8ea52e800bc7865970b92fcf4647caffected · git
    • 974365e518617c9ce917f61aacbba07e4bedcca0 and later · before ba51d73408edf815cbaeab148625576c2dd90192affected · git
    • 974365e518617c9ce917f61aacbba07e4bedcca0 and later · before a7efffeecb881b4649fdc30de020ef910f35d646affected · git
    • 974365e518617c9ce917f61aacbba07e4bedcca0 and later · before 9d8a41e9a4ff83ff666de811e7f012167cdc00e9affected · git
    • 974365e518617c9ce917f61aacbba07e4bedcca0 and later · before 75a9a46d67f46d608205888f9b34e315c1786345affected · git
    • before 5.17not affected · semver
    • 6.1.149 and later · up to and including 6.1.*not affected · semver
    • 6.6.103 and later · up to and including 6.6.*not affected · semver
    • 6.12.44 and later · up to and including 6.12.*not affected · semver

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

EcosystemPackageAffected rangeFix
Debian:12linuxbefore 6.1.153-16.1.153-1
Debian:13linuxbefore 6.12.48-16.12.48-1
Debian:14linuxbefore 6.16.5-16.16.5-1

Same product

linux: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2026-31431crypto: algif_aead - Revert to operating out-of-placeKEV
    90Now
  • CVE-2022-0847A flaw was found in the way the "flags" member of the new pipe buffer structure was lacking proper initialization in copy_page_to_iter_pipe KEV
    89Now
  • CVE-2021-22555Heap Out-Of-Bounds Write in Netfilter IP6T_SO_SET_REPLACEKEV
    85Now

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • ← EarlierCVE-2025-38733Sep 5, 2025 · s390/mm: Do not map lowcore with identity mapping
    22Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2025-38734Sep 5, 2025 · net/smc: fix UAF on smcsk after smc_listen_out()
    31Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2025-38736Sep 5, 2025 · net: usb: asix_devices: Fix PHY address mask in MDIO bus initialization
    28Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / packageFixed versionSource
Linux Linux48a4e89d50e8ea52e800bc7865970b92fcf4647cVendor (CNA)
Linux Linux75a9a46d67f46d608205888f9b34e315c1786345Vendor (CNA)
Linux Linux9d8a41e9a4ff83ff666de811e7f012167cdc00e9Vendor (CNA)
Linux Linuxa7efffeecb881b4649fdc30de020ef910f35d646Vendor (CNA)
Linux Linuxba51d73408edf815cbaeab148625576c2dd90192Vendor (CNA)
debian:linux6.1.153-1 · Debian:12Package registry (OSV)

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

No history yet (it accumulates with the daily EPSS job).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Someone with local access to the system can trigger it.
  • A low-privileged account is enough.
  • No user action is required.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
none
Integrity
none
Availability
high · the service can be disrupted
Attack vector
Local
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
None
Integrity impact
None
Availability impact
High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-476 · NULL Pointer Dereference

CVSS vector

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

nvd-primary

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

MITRE has no CAPEC/ATT&CK mapping for this CWE.

Change log

  1. SSVC exploitation— → none
  2. Fix✗ → ✓

For records you follow, these changes also arrive as notifications. →

References

Show all references (6 more)

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records