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

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2025-38521 is a high (CVSS 7.1) Exposure of Resource to Wrong Sphere vulnerability in linux. EPSS estimates a 0.16% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 4.7% of scored vulnerabilities.

Timeline

1. 16-08-2025
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 11-05-2026
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

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.

• CWE-668Exposure of Resource to Wrong SphereThe product exposes a resource to the wrong control sphere, providing unintended actors with inappropriate access to the resource.