7.8

CVE-2025-38169: arm64/fpsimd: Avoid clobbering kernel FPSIMD state with SMSTOP

Modified
AliasesUBUNTU-CVE-2025-38169DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38169
Published 03-07-2025Last modified 15-10-2026

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2025-38169 is a high (CVSS 7.8) vulnerability in linux. EPSS estimates a 0.17% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 6.5% of scored vulnerabilities.

Priority
Routine

Not severe (CVSS 7.8, local access); no exploitation reported by the 5 checked sources

Source freshness unavailable

How is this decided?
CVSS score
7.8/10
010
High · v3.1 (CVE.org)
EPSS score
0.17%
0%100%
Low · 0.00 pp in 30 days
KEVNot listedNot listed by any tracked catalog.
RansomwareNot flaggedNo ransomware use recorded.
Public exploits0No public exploits recorded

Advisory lineage

Upstream 0 · Downstream 28 · Related 28
OPENSUSE-SU-2025:20081-1SUSE-SU-2025:21074-1SUSE-SU-2025:21139-1SUSE-SU-2025:21179-1SUSE-SU-2026:20560-1USN-7769-1

Timeline

  1. 03-07-2025
    PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
  2. 15-10-2026
    Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: arm64/fpsimd: Avoid clobbering kernel FPSIMD state with SMSTOP On system with SME, a thread's kernel FPSIMD state may be erroneously clobbered during a context switch immediately after that state is restored. Systems without SME are unaffected. If the CPU happens to be in streaming SVE mode before a context switch to a thread with kernel FPSIMD state, fpsimd_thread_switch() will restore the kernel FPSIMD state using fpsimd_load_kernel_state() while the CPU is still in streaming SVE mode. When fpsimd_thread_switch() subsequently calls fpsimd_flush_cpu_state(), this will execute an SMSTOP, causing an exit from streaming SVE mode. The exit from streaming SVE mode will cause the hardware to reset a number of FPSIMD/SVE/SME registers, clobbering the FPSIMD state. Fix this by calling fpsimd_flush_cpu_state() before restoring the kernel FPSIMD state.

CVSS metrics

5 scores · 4 sources · 2 versions

EPSS trend

Probability

0.17%

Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days

Percentile

7%

Versus all other CVEs

30-day change

No change 0.00 pp

From 0.17% on 04-10-2026

04-10-202603-11-2026

Known exploited

Compare KEV catalogs
CISA KEV

Not in the CISA KEV catalog.

ENISA CNW

Not in the ENISA CNW catalog.

CIRCL

Not in the CIRCL catalog.

Public exploits

0 found

No public exploits indexed.

Weaknesses

CWE · root cause

No weakness data has been published for this record.

Affected systems

Version check

Known conditions: local access, low-privilege account, no user interaction (CVSS vector). Other conditions: not stated in public data.

Ubuntu119 products
  • linux< 6.8.0-100.100
  • linux-allwinner-5.19All versions (No fix recorded)
  • linux-aws< 6.8.0-1046.49
  • linux-aws-5.0All versions (No fix recorded)
  • linux-aws-5.11All versions (No fix recorded)
Linux2 products
  • linux≥ e92bee9f861b466c676f0200be3e46af7bc4ac6b, < 55d52af498daea75aa03ba9b7e444c8ae495ac20 | ≥ e92bee9f861b466c676f0200be3e46af7bc4ac6b, < a305821f597ec943849d3e53924adb88c61ed682 | ≥ e92bee9f861b466c676f0200be3e46af7bc4ac6b, < 01098d893fa8a6edb2b56e178b798e3e6b674f02 | e003c485ac82a9f8de4204912ed059ac6dd4257c | 25b90cd122d546823da90b916f7c3289dfe83a99 | ≥ 6.8.12, < 6.9 | ≥ 6.9.3, < 6.10 | 6.10
  • linux_kernel≥ 6.8.12, < 6.9 | ≥ 6.9.3, < 6.12.34 | ≥ 6.13, < 6.15.3
Debian1 product
  • linux< 6.12.35-1

3 vendors · 122 products

References

30 links
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