Bug 2376079 (CVE-2025-38168)

Summary:	CVE-2025-38168 kernel: Linux kernel: Local denial of service in arm-ni due to improper PMU unregistration
Product:	[Other] Security Response	Reporter:	OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component:	vulnerability	Assignee:	Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status:	NEW ---	QA Contact:
Severity:	low	Docs Contact:
Priority:	low
Version:	unspecified	CC:	rhel-process-autobot, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone:	---	Keywords:	Security
Target Release:	---
Hardware:	All
OS:	Linux
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version:		Doc Type:	---
Doc Text:	A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's `arm-ni` performance monitoring unit (PMU) driver. When a resource allocation fails during device probing, the system does not properly unregister previously registered PMUs. This oversight allows a local attacker with low privileges to trigger a kernel panic, leading to a denial of service (DoS) condition.	Story Points:	---
Clone Of:		Environment:
Last Closed:		Type:	---
Regression:	---	Mount Type:	---
Documentation:	---	CRM:
Verified Versions:		Category:	---
oVirt Team:	---	RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team:	---	Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description OSIDB Bzimport 2025-07-03 09:04:00 UTC

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

perf: arm-ni: Unregister PMUs on probe failure

When a resource allocation fails in one clock domain of an NI device,
we need to properly roll back all previously registered perf PMUs in
other clock domains of the same device.

Otherwise, it can lead to kernel panics.

Calling arm_ni_init+0x0/0xff8 [arm_ni] @ 2374
arm-ni ARMHCB70:00: Failed to request PMU region 0x1f3c13000
arm-ni ARMHCB70:00: probe with driver arm-ni failed with error -16
list_add corruption: next->prev should be prev (fffffd01e9698a18),
but was 0000000000000000. (next=ffff10001a0decc8).
pstate: 6340009 (nZCv daif +PAN -UAO +TCO +DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--)
pc : list_add_valid_or_report+0x7c/0xb8
lr : list_add_valid_or_report+0x7c/0xb8
Call trace:
 __list_add_valid_or_report+0x7c/0xb8
 perf_pmu_register+0x22c/0x3a0
 arm_ni_probe+0x554/0x70c [arm_ni]
 platform_probe+0x70/0xe8
 really_probe+0xc6/0x4d8
 driver_probe_device+0x48/0x170
 __driver_attach+0x8e/0x1c0
 bus_for_each_dev+0x64/0xf0
 driver_add+0x138/0x260
 bus_add_driver+0x68/0x138
 __platform_driver_register+0x2c/0x40
 arm_ni_init+0x14/0x2a [arm_ni]
 do_init_module+0x36/0x298
---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---
Kernel panic - not syncing: Oops - BUG: Fatal exception
SMP: stopping secondary CPUs

Comment 1 Avinash Hanwate 2025-07-03 15:59:48 UTC

Upstream advisory:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/2025070341-CVE-2025-38168-da4f@gregkh/T