drm/msm/gpu: Fix crash when throttling GPU immediately during boot
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · High
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: drm/msm/gpu: Fix crash when throttling GPU immediately during boot There is a small chance that the GPU is already hot during boot. In that case, the call to of_devfreq_cooling_register() will immediately try to apply devfreq cooling, as seen in the following crash: Unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address 0000000000014110 pc : a6xx_gpu_busy+0x1c/0x58 [msm] lr : msm_devfreq_get_dev_status+0xbc/0x140 [msm] Call trace: a6xx_gpu_busy+0x1c/0x58 [msm] (P) devfreq_simple_ondemand_func+0x3c/0x150 devfreq_update_target+0x44/0xd8 qos_max_notifier_call+0x30/0x84 blocking_notifier_call_chain+0x6c/0xa0 pm_qos_update_target+0xd0/0x110 freq_qos_apply+0x3c/0x74 apply_constraint+0x88/0x148 __dev_pm_qos_update_request+0x7c/0xcc dev_pm_qos_update_request+0x38/0x5c devfreq_cooling_set_cur_state+0x98/0xf0 __thermal_cdev_update+0x64/0xb4 thermal_cdev_update+0x4c/0x58 step_wise_manage+0x1f0/0x318 __thermal_zone_device_update+0x278/0x424 __thermal_cooling_device_register+0x2bc/0x308 thermal_of_cooling_device_register+0x10/0x1c of_devfreq_cooling_register_power+0x240/0x2bc of_devfreq_cooling_register+0x14/0x20 msm_devfreq_init+0xc4/0x1a0 [msm] msm_gpu_init+0x304/0x574 [msm] adreno_gpu_init+0x1c4/0x2e0 [msm] a6xx_gpu_init+0x5c8/0x9c8 [msm] adreno_bind+0x2a8/0x33c [msm] ... At this point we haven't initialized the GMU at all yet, so we cannot read the GMU registers inside a6xx_gpu_busy(). A similar issue was fixed before in commit 6694482a70e9 ("drm/msm: Avoid unclocked GMU register access in 6xx gpu_busy"): msm_devfreq_init() does call devfreq_suspend_device(), but unlike msm_devfreq_suspend(), it doesn't set the df->suspended flag accordingly. This means the df->suspended flag does not match the actual devfreq state after initialization and msm_devfreq_get_dev_status() will end up accessing GMU registers, causing the crash. Fix this by setting df->suspended correctly during initialization. Patchwork: https://patchwork.freedesktop.org/patch/650772/
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | 5.18.18 to before 5.19; 5.19.2 to before 5.20 | 5.19, 5.20 | Patch available | CNA |
| Linux | Linux | 6.0 and later | 6.1.143, 6.6.96, 6.12.36, 6.15.5, 6.16 | Patch available | CNA |
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.19, 5.20
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 6.1.143, 6.6.96, 6.12.36, 6.15.5, 6.16
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Not affected: 5 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2025-38354
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-9mf6-h5qw-3r5p
References
Patch 5
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ae2015b0dbc0eea7aaf022194371f451f784d994
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7946a10f8da75abc494e4bb80243e153e93e459a
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1847ea44e3bdf7da8ff4158bc01b43a2e46394bd
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a6f673cc9488fd722c601fe020601dba14db21b2
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b71717735be48d7743a34897e9e44a0b53e30c0e
More Linux Kernel vulnerabilities
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- TI-2026-38352 netfilter: bridge: make ebt_snat ARP rewrite writable KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2013-05264 The (1) get_user and (2) put_user API functions in the Linux kernel before 3.5.5 on the… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2022-00125 Integer overflow in kernel KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
- TI-2013-01864 The perf_swevent_init function in kernel/events/core.c in the Linux kernel before 3.8.9… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
- TI-2021-05514 Heap Out-Of-Bounds Write in Netfilter IP6T_SO_SET_REPLACE KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.3
Sources
- CVE-2025-38354 · CVE Program
- CVE-2025-38354 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-9mf6-h5qw-3r5p · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2025-38354 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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