# CVE-2025-38168: perf: arm-ni: Unregister PMUs on probe failure

> A missing cleanup in the arm-ni driver causes a kernel panic when resource allocation fails, leading to a denial of service.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:** 15 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2025-38168, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38168, GHSA-3pqf-m36q-w788, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-38168, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-38168, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38168

## What is CVE-2025-38168?

CVE-2025-38168 is a high-severity 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:

perf: arm-ni: Unregister PMUs on probe failure

When a resource allocation fails in one clock domain of an NI device,
we need to properly roll back all previously registered perf PMUs in
other clock domains of the same device.

Otherwise, it can lead to kernel panics.

Calling arm_ni_init+0x0/0xff8 [arm_ni] @ 2374
arm-ni ARMHCB70:00: Failed to request PMU region 0x1f3c13000
arm-ni ARMHCB70:00: probe with driver arm-ni failed with error -16
list_add corruption: next->prev should be prev (fffffd01e9698a18),
but was 0000000000000000. (next=ffff10001a0decc8).
pstate: 6340009 (nZCv daif +PAN -UAO +TCO +DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--)
pc : list_add_valid_or_report+0x7c/0xb8
lr : list_add_valid_or_report+0x7c/0xb8
Call trace:
 __list_add_valid_or_report+0x7c/0xb8
 perf_pmu_register+0x22c/0x3a0
 arm_ni_probe+0x554/0x70c [arm_ni]
 platform_probe+0x70/0xe8
 really_probe+0xc6/0x4d8
 driver_probe_device+0x48/0x170
 __driver_attach+0x8e/0x1c0
 bus_for_each_dev+0x64/0xf0
 driver_add+0x138/0x260
 bus_add_driver+0x68/0x138
 __platform_driver_register+0x2c/0x40
 arm_ni_init+0x14/0x2a [arm_ni]
 do_init_module+0x36/0x298
---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---
Kernel panic - not syncing: Oops - BUG: Fatal exception
SMP: stopping secondary CPUs

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38168?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-38168?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-38168 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38168 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-38168 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-38168 is a high-severity 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38168 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. 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-2025-38168/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38168/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38168
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38168
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-38168

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38168/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.