CVE-2025-38036: linux kernel vulnerability

What is known

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: drm/xe/vf: Perform early GT MMIO initialization to read GMDID VFs need to communicate with the GuC to obtain the GMDID value and existing GuC functions used for that assume that the GT has it's MMIO members already setup. However, due to recent refactoring the gt->mmio is initialized later, and any attempt by the VF to use xe_mmio_read|write() from GuC functions will lead to NPD crash due to unset MMIO register address: [] xe 0000:00:02.1: [drm] Running in SR-IOV VF mode [] xe 0000:00:02.1: [drm] GT0: sending H2G MMIO 0x5507 [] BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: 0000000000190240 Since we are already tweaking the id and type of the primary GT to mimic it's a Media GT before initializing the GuC communication, we can also call xe_gt_mmio_init() to perform early setup of the gt->mmio which will make those GuC functions work again.

Business impact

Successful exploitation of CVE-2025-38036, a medium vulnerability (CVSS 5.5) affecting linux kernel, may affect the confidentiality, integrity or availability of the vulnerable environment. The exact impact depends on the installed version, exposed interfaces and deployment configuration.

Recommended administrator action

Confirm whether linux kernel is present and compare installed versions with the vendor advisory and NVD record. Apply the vendor patch or documented mitigation; until remediation is complete, reduce exposure of affected interfaces, review relevant logs and monitor for indicators of exploitation. DataHouse can support version verification, managed patching, network exposure reduction, log review and backup validation for dedicated, cloud and colocated environments.

Sources

• NVD
• Reference
• Reference