What is CVE-2025-38235?

CVE-2025-38235 is a Medium severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10, affecting Linux kernel versions from 6.15 onward and patched in 6.15.5 and 6.16. CVE-2025-38235 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2025-38235?

CVE-2025-38235 has a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10, rated Medium severity. The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

Is there a patch available for CVE-2025-38235?

Yes, CVE-2025-38235 has been patched. Fixed versions include 6.15.5 and 6.16. If you are running Linux kernel 6.15 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.

Is CVE-2025-38235 actively exploited?

CVE-2025-38235 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

CVE-2025-38235

Medium

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: HID: appletb-kbd: fix "appletb_backlight" backlight device reference counting During appletb_kbd_probe, probe attempts to get the backlight device by name. When this happens backlight_device_get_by_name looks for a device in the backlight class which has name "appletb_backlight" and upon finding a match it increments the reference count for the device and returns it to the caller. However this reference is never released leading to a reference leak. Fix this by decrementing the backlight device reference count on removal via put_device and on probe failure.

Package Linux Kernel

Published 2025-07-06

Last modified 2025-11-18

CVSS version 3.1

Patch available

Yes

CVSS 3.1 score

5.5

out of 10

Medium

Attack Vector

Local

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

Low

User Interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

Low

Integrity

None

Availability

High

Vector string

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Affected versions

Linux kernel versions 6.15 and later are affected. Fixed in 6.15.5, 6.16 and their respective stable series.

Affected from

≥ 6.15

Fixed in

✓ 6.15.5 6.15.x ✓ 6.16

References

The following references provide additional information about CVE-2025-38235 including vendor advisories, patch commits, exploit details, and third-party analysis. Links are sourced from the NIST NVD database.

Kernel patch commit
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4540e41e753a7d69ecd3f5bad51fe620205c3a18
Patch
Kernel patch commit
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/751d5437112a3f387de4ef6d2d1c131068ff7627
Patch

Details

CVE ID CVE-2025-38235

Severity Medium

CVSS score 5.5 / 10

CVSS version 3.1

Published 2025-07-06

Modified 2025-11-18

KEV No

Patch

Yes

Package linux

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2025-38235?

CVE-2025-38235 is a Medium severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10 . It affects Linux kernel versions from 6.15 onward and has been patched in 6.15.5 and 6.16. CVE-2025-38235 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
What is the CVSS score for CVE-2025-38235?

CVE-2025-38235 has a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10, rated Medium severity (CVSS 3.1). The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
Is there a patch available for CVE-2025-38235?

Yes — CVE-2025-38235 has been patched. Fixed versions include 6.15.5 and 6.16. If you are running Linux kernel 6.15 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.
Is CVE-2025-38235 actively exploited?

No — CVE-2025-38235 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.