# CVE-2025-38148: net: phy: mscc: Fix memory leak when using one step timestamping

> A memory leak in the Linux kernel's MSCC PHY driver during one-step timestamping can lead to resource exhaustion and denial of service.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **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:** Yes
- **Published:** 3 Jul 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-64511, AZL-72757, BELL-CVE-2025-38148, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38148, GHSA-rv46-hcfv-qpvx, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2025-38148, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-38148, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-38148, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-38148, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38148

## What is CVE-2025-38148?

CVE-2025-38148 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, 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:

net: phy: mscc: Fix memory leak when using one step timestamping

Fix memory leak when running one-step timestamping. When running
one-step sync timestamping, the HW is configured to insert the TX time
into the frame, so there is no reason to keep the skb anymore. As in
this case the HW will never generate an interrupt to say that the frame
was timestamped, then the frame will never released.
Fix this by freeing the frame in case of one-step timestamping.

Weakness: CWE-401 (Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38148?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Debian Debian Linux, Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-38148?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-38148 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38148 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux

- [CVE-2015-3306](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-3306/): ProFTPD Improper Access Control (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-49113](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-49113/): RoundCube Webmail Deserialization of Untrusted Data (critical 9.9, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-24061](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-24061/): GNU InetUtils Argument Injection (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-39682](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-39682/): Linux Kernel Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-9680](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-9680/): Mozilla Firefox Use-After-Free (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-38148 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-38148 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 3 Jul 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38148 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Debian Debian Linux. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38148/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38148/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38148
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38148
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-38148

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38148/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.