CVE-2025-38335 Input: gpio-keys - fix a sleep while atomic with PREEMPT_RT
A sleep-while-atomic bug in the Linux kernel gpio-keys driver causes a kernel panic when PREEMPT_RT is enabled, leading to 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-2025-38335?
CVE-2025-38335 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:
Input: gpio-keys - fix a sleep while atomic with PREEMPT_RT
When enabling PREEMPT_RT, the gpio_keys_irq_timer() callback runs in hard irq context, but the input_event() takes a spin_lock, which isn't allowed there as it is converted to a rt_spin_lock().
[ 4054.289999] BUG: sleeping function called from invalid context at kernel/locking/spinlock_rt.c:48 [ 4054.290028] in_atomic(): 1, irqs_disabled(): 1, non_block: 0, pid: 0, name: swapper/0 ... [ 4054.290195] __might_resched+0x13c/0x1f4 [ 4054.290209] rt_spin_lock+0x54/0x11c [ 4054.290219] input_event+0x48/0x80 [ 4054.290230] gpio_keys_irq_timer+0x4c/0x78 [ 4054.290243] __hrtimer_run_queues+0x1a4/0x438 [ 4054.290257] hrtimer_interrupt+0xe4/0x240 [ 4054.290269] arch_timer_handler_phys+0x2c/0x44 [ 4054.290283] handle_percpu_devid_irq+0x8c/0x14c [ 4054.290297] handle_irq_desc+0x40/0x58 [ 4054.290307] generic_handle_domain_irq+0x1c/0x28 [ 4054.290316] gic_handle_irq+0x44/0xcc
Considering the gpio_keys_irq_isr() can run in any context, e.g. it can be threaded, it seems there's no point in requesting the timer isr to run in hard irq context.
Relax the hrtimer not to use the hard context.
Weakness: CWE-667
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38335?
It affects 2 products.
Products include Debian Debian Linux, Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2025-38335?
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-2025-38335 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38335 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux
Sources
Also known as AZL-64896, AZL-72590, BELL-CVE-2025-38335, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38335, GHSA-jm39-49q3-98mm, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-38335 and 3 more.