CVE-2025-38668: regulator: core: fix NULL dereference on unbind due to stale coupling data

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: 2025-08-22 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-476

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: regulator: core: fix NULL dereference on unbind due to stale coupling data Failing to reset coupling_desc.n_coupled after freeing coupled_rdevs can lead to NULL pointer dereference when regulators are accessed post-unbind. This can happen during runtime PM or other regulator operations that rely on coupling metadata. For example, on ridesx4, unbinding the 'reg-dummy' platform device triggers a panic in regulator_lock_recursive() due to stale coupling state. Ensure n_coupled is set to 0 to prevent access to invalid pointers.

Affected products

Debian Linux: 11.0
Linux kernel: from 5.3 before 5.4.297; from 5.5 before 5.10.241; from 5.11 before 5.15.190; from 5.16 before 6.1.148; from 6.2 before 6.6.101; from 6.7 before 6.12.41 — fixed in 5.10.241, 5.15.190, 5.4.297, 6.1.148, 6.12.41, 6.15.9

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 5.10.241, 5.15.190, 5.4.297, 6.1.148. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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