CVE-2025-38322 perf/x86/intel: Fix crash in icl_update_topdown_event()
A local attacker can trigger a kernel crash on Intel RaptorLake systems by using perf tools on E-cores, 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-2025-38322?
CVE-2025-38322 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 10 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/x86/intel: Fix crash in icl_update_topdown_event()
The perf_fuzzer found a hard-lockup crash on a RaptorLake machine:
Oops: general protection fault, maybe for address 0xffff89aeceab400: 0000 CPU: 23 UID: 0 PID: 0 Comm: swapper/23 Tainted: [W]=WARN Hardware name: Dell Inc. Precision 9660/0VJ762 RIP: 0010:native_read_pmc+0x7/0x40 Code: cc e8 8d a9 01 00 48 89 03 5b cd cc cc cc cc 0f 1f ... RSP: 000:fffb03100273de8 EFLAGS: 00010046 .... Call Trace: <TASK> icl_update_topdown_event+0x165/0x190 ? ktime_get+0x38/0xd0 intel_pmu_read_event+0xf9/0x210 __perf_event_read+0xf9/0x210
CPUs 16-23 are E-core CPUs that don't support the perf metrics feature. The icl_update_topdown_event() should not be invoked on these CPUs.
It's a regression of commit:
f9bdf1f95339 ("perf/x86/intel: Avoid disable PMU if !cpuc->enabled in sample read")
The bug introduced by that commit is that the is_topdown_event() function is mistakenly used to replace the is_topdown_count() call to check if the topdown functions for the perf metrics feature should be invoked.
Fix it.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38322?
It affects 2 products.
Products include Debian Debian Linux, Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2025-38322?
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-2025-38322 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38322 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2025-38322, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38322, GHSA-43x8-vph3-w4wc, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-38322, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2025-38322, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-38322 and 1 more.