What is CVE-2025-38542?

CVE-2025-38542 is a Medium severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10, affecting Linux kernel versions from 2.6.12 onward and patched in 5.4.296, 5.10.240, 5.15.189 and others. CVE-2025-38542 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2025-38542?

CVE-2025-38542 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-2025-38542?

Yes, CVE-2025-38542 has been patched. Fixed versions include 5.4.296, 5.10.240, 5.15.189 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 2.6.12 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.

Is CVE-2025-38542 actively exploited?

CVE-2025-38542 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

CVE-2025-38542

Medium

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: appletalk: Fix device refcount leak in atrtr_create() When updating an existing route entry in atrtr_create(), the old device reference was not being released before assigning the new device, leading to a device refcount leak. Fix this by calling dev_put() to release the old device reference before holding the new one.

Package Linux Kernel

Published 2025-08-16

Last modified 2026-01-07

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 2.6.12 and later are affected. Fixed in 5.4.296, 5.10.240, 5.15.189, 6.1.146, 6.6.99, 6.12.39, 6.15.7, 6.16 and their respective stable series.

Affected from

≥ 2.6.12

Fixed in

✓ 5.4.296 5.4.x ✓ 5.10.240 5.10.x ✓ 5.15.189 5.15.x ✓ 6.1.146 6.1.x ✓ 6.6.99 6.6.x ✓ 6.12.39 6.12.x ✓ 6.15.7 6.15.x ✓ 6.16

References

The following references provide additional information about CVE-2025-38542 including vendor advisories, patch commits, exploit details, and third-party analysis. Links are sourced from the NIST NVD database.

Debian Security
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/10/msg00007.html

Mailing List Third Party Advisory
Debian Security
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/10/msg00008.html

Mailing List Third Party Advisory
Kernel patch commit
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/473f3eadfc73b0fb6d8dee5829d19a5772e387f7
Patch
Kernel patch commit
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4a17370da6e476d3d275534e9e9cd2d02c57ca46
Patch
Kernel patch commit
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/64124cf0aab0dd1e18c0fb5ae66e45741e727f8b
Patch

8 patch commits total View all on NVD

Details

CVE ID CVE-2025-38542

Severity Medium

CVSS score 5.5 / 10

CVSS version 3.1

Published 2025-08-16

Modified 2026-01-07

KEV No

Patch

Yes

Package linux

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2025-38542?

CVE-2025-38542 is a Medium severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10 . It affects Linux kernel versions from 2.6.12 onward and has been patched in 5.4.296, 5.10.240, 5.15.189 and others. CVE-2025-38542 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
What is the CVSS score for CVE-2025-38542?

CVE-2025-38542 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-2025-38542?

Yes — CVE-2025-38542 has been patched. Fixed versions include 5.4.296, 5.10.240, 5.15.189 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 2.6.12 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.
Is CVE-2025-38542 actively exploited?

No — CVE-2025-38542 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.