# CVE-2025-38184: tipc: fix null-ptr-deref when acquiring remote ip of ethernet bearer

> A local attacker can cause a kernel crash via null pointer dereference in TIPC UDP bearer handling when specific netlink commands are issued.

- **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:** 4 Jul 2025
- **Updated:** 15 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-64785, BELL-CVE-2025-38184, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38184, GHSA-jhfq-cfj3-rm7v, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2025-38184, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-38184, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-38184, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-38184, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38184

## What is CVE-2025-38184?

CVE-2025-38184 is a high-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 4 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:

tipc: fix null-ptr-deref when acquiring remote ip of ethernet bearer

The reproduction steps:
1. create a tun interface
2. enable l2 bearer
3. TIPC_NL_UDP_GET_REMOTEIP with media name set to tun

tipc: Started in network mode
tipc: Node identity 8af312d38a21, cluster identity 4711
tipc: Enabled bearer <eth:syz_tun>, priority 1
Oops: general protection fault
KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range
CPU: 1 UID: 1000 PID: 559 Comm: poc Not tainted 6.16.0-rc1+ #117 PREEMPT
Hardware name: QEMU Ubuntu 24.04 PC
RIP: 0010:tipc_udp_nl_dump_remoteip+0x4a4/0x8f0

the ub was in fact a struct dev.

when bid != 0 && skip_cnt != 0, bearer_list[bid] may be NULL or
other media when other thread changes it.

fix this by checking media_id.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38184?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Debian Debian Linux, Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-38184?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-38184 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38184 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-2025-38184 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-38184 is a high-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 4 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-2025-38184 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-2025-38184/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38184/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38184
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38184
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-38184

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38184/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.