CVE-2025-68238 mtd: rawnand: cadence: fix DMA device NULL pointer dereference

Not scored Published Updated

A NULL pointer dereference in the Cadence NAND driver can cause a kernel crash, leading to denial of service for local attackers.

Exploited in the wild
Not known
Login needed
Not needed
Attackable
Local or same network only
Victim action needed
Not needed
Fix
Available

What is CVE-2025-68238?

CVE-2025-68238 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 16 Dec 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:

mtd: rawnand: cadence: fix DMA device NULL pointer dereference

The DMA device pointer `dma_dev` was being dereferenced before ensuring that `cdns_ctrl->dmac` is properly initialized.

Move the assignment of `dma_dev` after successfully acquiring the DMA channel to ensure the pointer is valid before use.

Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-68238?

How do I fix CVE-2025-68238?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2025-68238 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-68238 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Sources

Also known as BELL-CVE-2025-68238, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-68238, GHSA-gq5h-xxh9-g765, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-68238, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2025-68238, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-68238 and 2 more.

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