CVE-2025-38216 iommu/vt-d: Restore context entry setup order for aliased devices
A regression in the Linux kernel IOMMU driver causes input devices like keyboards to fail on specific hardware, resulting in 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-2025-38216?
CVE-2025-38216 is a high-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:
iommu/vt-d: Restore context entry setup order for aliased devices
Commit 2031c469f816 ("iommu/vt-d: Add support for static identity domain") changed the context entry setup during domain attachment from a set-and-check policy to a clear-and-reset approach. This inadvertently introduced a regression affecting PCI aliased devices behind PCIe-to-PCI bridges.
Specifically, keyboard and touchpad stopped working on several Apple Macbooks with below messages:
kernel: platform pxa2xx-spi.3: Adding to iommu group 20 kernel: input: Apple SPI Keyboard as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1e.3/pxa2xx-spi.3/spi_master/spi2/spi-APP000D:00/input/input0 kernel: DMAR: DRHD: handling fault status reg 3 kernel: DMAR: [DMA Read NO_PASID] Request device [00:1e.3] fault addr 0xffffa000 [fault reason 0x06] PTE Read access is not set kernel: DMAR: DRHD: handling fault status reg 3 kernel: DMAR: [DMA Read NO_PASID] Request device [00:1e.3] fault addr 0xffffa000 [fault reason 0x06] PTE Read access is not set kernel: applespi spi-APP000D:00: Error writing to device: 01 0e 00 00 kernel: DMAR: DRHD: handling fault status reg 3 kernel: DMAR: [DMA Read NO_PASID] Request device [00:1e.3] fault addr 0xffffa000 [fault reason 0x06] PTE Read access is not set kernel: DMAR: DRHD: handling fault status reg 3 kernel: applespi spi-APP000D:00: Error writing to device: 01 0e 00 00
Fix this by restoring the previous context setup order.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38216?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2025-38216?
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-2025-38216 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38216 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2025-38216, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38216, GHSA-gc23-52rx-7m2p, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38216.