CVE-2025-38610: powercap: dtpm_cpu: Fix NULL pointer dereference in get_pd_power_uw()

Severity: medium (CVSS 5.5 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: 2025-08-19 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-476

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: powercap: dtpm_cpu: Fix NULL pointer dereference in get_pd_power_uw() The get_pd_power_uw() function can crash with a NULL pointer dereference when em_cpu_get() returns NULL. This occurs when a CPU becomes impossible during runtime, causing get_cpu_device() to return NULL, which propagates through em_cpu_get() and leads to a crash when em_span_cpus() dereferences the NULL pointer. Add a NULL check after em_cpu_get() and return 0 if unavailable, matching the existing fallback behavior in __dtpm_cpu_setup(). [ rjw: Drop an excess empty code line ]

Affected products

Debian Linux: 11.0
Linux kernel: from 5.16 before 6.1.148; from 6.2 before 6.6.102; from 6.7 before 6.12.42; from 6.13 before 6.15.10; from 6.16 before 6.16.1 — fixed in 6.1.148, 6.12.42, 6.15.10, 6.16.1, 6.6.102

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 6.1.148, 6.12.42, 6.15.10, 6.16.1. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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