CVE-2025-38188 drm/msm/a7xx: Call CP_RESET_CONTEXT_STATE
A missing state reset in the Linux kernel's Adreno GPU driver allows a local user to hang other GPU contexts, causing a denial of service.
- 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-2025-38188?
CVE-2025-38188 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, 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:
drm/msm/a7xx: Call CP_RESET_CONTEXT_STATE
Calling this packet is necessary when we switch contexts because there are various pieces of state used by userspace to synchronize between BR and BV that are persistent across submits and we need to make sure that they are in a "safe" state when switching contexts. Otherwise a userspace submission in one context could cause another context to function incorrectly and hang, effectively a denial of service (although without leaking data). This was missed during initial a7xx bringup.
Patchwork: https://patchwork.freedesktop.org/patch/654924/
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38188?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2025-38188?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is CVE-2025-38188 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38188 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2025-38188, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38188, GHSA-2cvc-6m24-c689, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-38188, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38188.