CVE-2025-38169

MEDIUM

Linux Kernel - FPSIMD State Clobbering via Context Switch with Streaming SVE Mode

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

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.

Scores

CVSS v3 5.5
EPSS 0.0014
EPSS Percentile 3.5%
Attack Vector LOCAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Details

Status published
Products (15)
linux/Kernel 6.10.0 - 6.12.34linux
linux/Kernel 6.13.0 - 6.15.3linux
Linux/Linux < 6.10
Linux/Linux 25b90cd122d546823da90b916f7c3289dfe83a99
Linux/Linux 6.10
Linux/Linux 6.12.34 - 6.12.*
Linux/Linux 6.15.3 - 6.15.*
Linux/Linux 6.16
Linux/Linux 6.8.12 - 6.9
Linux/Linux 6.9.3 - 6.10
... and 5 more
Published Jul 03, 2025
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026