CVE-2025-38521: drm/imagination: Fix kernel crash when hard resetting the GPU

Severity: high (CVSS 7.1 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2025-08-16 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-668

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: drm/imagination: Fix kernel crash when hard resetting the GPU The GPU hard reset sequence calls pm_runtime_force_suspend() and pm_runtime_force_resume(), which according to their documentation should only be used during system-wide PM transitions to sleep states. The main issue though is that depending on some internal runtime PM state as seen by pm_runtime_force_suspend() (whether the usage count is <= 1), pm_runtime_force_resume() might not resume the device unless needed. If that happens, the runtime PM resume callback pvr_power_device_resume() is not called, the GPU clocks are not re-enabled, and the kernel crashes on the next attempt to access GPU registers as part of the power-on sequence. Replace calls to pm_runtime_force_suspend() and pm_runtime_force_resume() with direct calls to the driver's runtime PM callbacks, pvr_power_device_suspend() and pvr_power_device_resume(), to ensure clocks are re-enabled and avoid the kernel crash.

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 6.8 before 6.12.39; from 6.13 before 6.15.7; 6.16-rc1, 6.16-rc2, 6.16-rc3, 6.16-rc4, 6.16-rc5 — fixed in 6.12.39, 6.15.7

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 6.12.39, 6.15.7. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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