CVE-2025-38137 PCI/pwrctrl: Cancel outstanding rescan work when unregistering
A use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel PCI power control driver allows local attackers to potentially execute code or escalate privileges.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2025-38137?
CVE-2025-38137 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 3 Jul 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
PCI/pwrctrl: Cancel outstanding rescan work when unregistering
It's possible to trigger use-after-free here by:
(a) forcing rescan_work_func() to take a long time and (b) utilizing a pwrctrl driver that may be unloaded for some reason
Cancel outstanding work to ensure it is finished before we allow our data structures to be cleaned up.
[bhelgaas: tidy commit log]
Weakness: CWE-416
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38137?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2025-38137?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. These bugs are found with fuzzing and sanitisers and avoided by memory-safe languages. More about Use after free.
Is CVE-2025-38137 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38137 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2025-38137, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38137, GHSA-pc54-rc55-gh88, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2025-38137, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38137.