CVE-2025-38475: Software Security Vulnerability Vulnerability

MODERATE
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-wfpw-m32p-qqfp
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CVSS 5.5
CWE-476
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2025-38475 is a MODERATE (CVSS 5.5) security vulnerability vulnerability (CWE-476: NULL Pointer Dereference) affecting Software libraries in the Maven ecosystem. The weakness occurs when the product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is null.. Remediation is available in the latest vendor maintenance releases.

CVE-2025-38475 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2025-38475
GHSA Identifier GHSA-wfpw-m32p-qqfp
Severity MODERATE
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 5.5
CWE Classification CWE-476: NULL Pointer Dereference
Affected Product Software
Package Ecosystem Maven
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 5.5

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

Attack Vector Local (AV:L)
Attack Complexity Low (AC:L)
Privileges Required Low (PR:L)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Unchanged (S:U)
Confidentiality None (C:N)
Integrity None (I:N)
Availability High (A:H)

How to Fix CVE-2025-38475

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Software dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release: 

mvn dependency:tree

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Java application is affected by CVE-2025-38475, inspect your build dependencies using the Maven Dependency Plugin:

mvn dependency:tree

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Software in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than the patched release), your application is affected.

Note: The mvn dependency:tree command inspects the resolved dependency graph declared in your project's POM files; it does not perform automated security scanning or inspect runtime dynamic classpaths. Always verify runtime container classpaths and shaded JARs.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-476: NULL Pointer Dereference, where the product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is null. In Software, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: smc: Fix various oops due to inet_sock type confusion. syzbot reported weird splats [0][1] in cipso_v4_sock_setattr() while freeing inet_sk(sk)->inet_opt. The address was freed multiple times even though it was read-only memory. cipso_v4_sock_setattr() did nothing wrong, and the root cause was type confusion. The cited commit made it possible to create smc_sock as an INET socket. The issue is that struct smc_sock does not have struct inet_sock as the first member but hijacks AF_INET and AF_INET6 sk_family, which confuses various places. In this case, inet_sock.inet_opt was actually smc_sock.clcsk_data_ready(), which is an address of a function in the text segment. $ pahole -C inet_sock vmlinux struct inet_sock { ... struct ip_options_rcu * inet_opt; /* 784 8 */ $ pahole -C smc_sock vmlinux struct smc_sock { ... void (*clcsk_data_ready)(struct sock *); /* 784 8 */ The same issue for another field was reported before. [2][3] At that time, an ugly hack was suggested [4], but it makes both INET and SMC code error-prone and hard to change. Also, yet another variant was fixed by a hacky commit 98d4435efcbf3 ("net/smc: prevent NULL pointer dereference in txopt_get"). Instead of papering over the root cause by such hacks, we should not allow non-INET socket to reuse the INET infra. Let's add inet_sock as the first member of smc_sock. [0]: kvfree_call_rcu(): Double-freed call. rcu_head 000000006921da73 WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 6718 at mm/slab_common.c:1956 kvfree_call_rcu+0x94/0x3f0 mm/slab_common.c:1955 Modules linked in: CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 6718 Comm: syz.0.17 Tainted: G W 6.16.0-rc4-syzkaller-g7482bb149b9f #0 PREEMPT Tainted: [W]=WARN Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 05/07/2025 pstate: 60400005 (nZCv daif +PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) pc : kvfree_call_rcu+0x94/0x3f0 mm/slab_common.c:1955 lr : kvfree_call_rcu+0x94/0x3f0 mm/slab_common.c:1955 sp : ffff8000a03a7730 x29: ffff8000a03a7730 x28: 00000000fffffff5 x27: 1fffe000184823d3 x26: dfff800000000000 x25: ffff0000c2411e9e x24: ffff0000dd88da00 x23: ffff8000891ac9a0 x22: 00000000ffffffea x21: ffff8000891ac9a0 x20: ffff8000891ac9a0 x19: ffff80008afc2480 x18: 00000000ffffffff x17: 0000000000000000 x16: ffff80008ae642c8 x15: ffff700011ede14c x14: 1ffff00011ede14c x13: 0000000000000004 x12: ffffffffffffffff x11: ffff700011ede14c x10: 0000000000ff0100 x9 : 5fa3c1ffaf0ff000 x8 : 5fa3c1ffaf0ff000 x7 : 0000000000000001 x6 : 0000000000000001 x5 : ffff8000a03a7078 x4 : ffff80008f766c20 x3 : ffff80008054d360 x2 : 0000000000000000 x1 : 0000000000000201 x0 : 0000000000000000 Call trace: kvfree_call_rcu+0x94/0x3f0 mm/slab_common.c:1955 (P) cipso_v4_sock_setattr+0x2f0/0x3f4 net/ipv4/cipso_ipv4.c:1914 netlbl_sock_setattr+0x240/0x334 net/netlabel/netlabel_kapi.c:1000 smack_netlbl_add+0xa8/0x158 security/smack/smack_lsm.c:2581 smack_inode_setsecurity+0x378/0x430 security/smack/smack_lsm.c:2912 security_inode_setsecurity+0x118/0x3c0 security/security.c:2706 __vfs_setxattr_noperm+0x174/0x5c4 fs/xattr.c:251 __vfs_setxattr_locked+0x1ec/0x218 fs/xattr.c:295 vfs_setxattr+0x158/0x2ac fs/xattr.c:321 do_setxattr fs/xattr.c:636 [inline] file_setxattr+0x1b8/0x294 fs/xattr.c:646 path_setxattrat+0x2ac/0x320 fs/xattr.c:711 __do_sys_fsetxattr fs/xattr.c:761 [inline] __se_sys_fsetxattr fs/xattr.c:758 [inline] __arm64_sys_fsetxattr+0xc0/0xdc fs/xattr.c:758 __invoke_syscall arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:35 [inline] invoke_syscall+0x98/0x2b8 arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:49 el0_svc_common+0x130/0x23c arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:132 do_el0_svc+0x48/0x58 arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:151 el0_svc+0x58/0x180 arch/arm64/kernel/entry-common.c:879 el0t_64_sync_handler+0x84/0x12c arch/arm64/kernel/entry-common.c:898 el0t_64_sync+0x198/0x19c arch/arm64/kernel/entry.S:600 [ ---truncated---

References

NVD — CVE-2025-38475 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38475
git.kernel.org/stable/c/5b02e39792... WEB
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5b02e397929e5b13b969ef1f8e43c7951e2864f5
git.kernel.org/stable/c/60ada4fe64... WEB
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/60ada4fe644edaa6c2da97364184b0425e8aeaf5
git.kernel.org/stable/c/67a167a6b8... WEB
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/67a167a6b8b45607bc34aa541d1c75097d18d460

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2025-38475?
CVE-2025-38475 is a security vulnerability in Software classified as a security vulnerability vulnerability under CWE-476: NULL Pointer Dereference.
Which Software versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to current release patches.
What version fixes CVE-2025-38475?
Upgrading to current release patches (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2025-38475?
CVE-2025-38475 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.5 (MODERATE) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2025-38475?
CVE-2025-38475 is classified under CWE-476: NULL Pointer Dereference (The product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is NULL.).
How can I check Maven dependencies for CVE-2025-38475?
Run the dependency tree command: 'mvn dependency:tree'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
View Raw JSON 
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-wfpw-m32p-qqfp",
  "modified" : "2025-11-19T18:31:17Z",
  "published" : "2025-07-28T12:30:35Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2025-38475" ],
  "details" : "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nsmc: Fix various oops due to inet_sock type confusion.\n\nsyzbot reported weird splats [0][1] in cipso_v4_sock_setattr() while\nfreeing inet_sk(sk)->inet_opt.\n\nThe address was freed multiple times even though it was read-only memory.\n\ncipso_v4_sock_setattr() did nothing wrong, and the root cause was type\nconfusion.\n\nThe cited commit made it possible to create smc_sock as an INET socket.\n\nThe issue is that struct smc_sock does not have struct inet_sock as the\nfirst member but hijacks AF_INET and AF_INET6 sk_family, which confuses\nvarious places.\n\nIn this case, inet_sock.inet_opt was actually smc_sock.clcsk_data_ready(),\nwhich is an address of a function in the text segment.\n\n  $ pahole -C inet_sock vmlinux\n  struct inet_sock {\n  ...\n          struct ip_options_rcu *    inet_opt;             /*   784     8 */\n\n  $ pahole -C smc_sock vmlinux\n  struct smc_sock {\n  ...\n          void                       (*clcsk_data_ready)(struct sock *); /*   784     8 */\n\nThe same issue for another field was reported before. [2][3]\n\nAt that time, an ugly hack was suggested [4], but it makes both INET\nand SMC code error-prone and hard to change.\n\nAlso, yet another variant was fixed by a hacky commit 98d4435efcbf3\n(\"net/smc: prevent NULL pointer dereference in txopt_get\").\n\nInstead of papering over the root cause by such hacks, we should not\nallow non-INET socket to reuse the INET infra.\n\nLet's add inet_sock as the first member of smc_sock.\n\n[0]:\nkvfree_call_rcu(): Double-freed call. rcu_head 000000006921da73\nWARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 6718 at mm/slab_common.c:1956 kvfree_call_rcu+0x94/0x3f0 mm/slab_common.c:1955\nModules linked in:\nCPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 6718 Comm: syz.0.17 Tainted: G        W           6.16.0-rc4-syzkaller-g7482bb149b9f #0 PREEMPT\nTainted: [W]=WARN\nHardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 05/07/2025\npstate: 60400005 (nZCv daif +PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--)\npc : kvfree_call_rcu+0x94/0x3f0 mm/slab_common.c:1955\nlr : kvfree_call_rcu+0x94/0x3f0 mm/slab_common.c:1955\nsp : ffff8000a03a7730\nx29: ffff8000a03a7730 x28: 00000000fffffff5 x27: 1fffe000184823d3\nx26: dfff800000000000 x25: ffff0000c2411e9e x24: ffff0000dd88da00\nx23: ffff8000891ac9a0 x22: 00000000ffffffea x21: ffff8000891ac9a0\nx20: ffff8000891ac9a0 x19: ffff80008afc2480 x18: 00000000ffffffff\nx17: 0000000000000000 x16: ffff80008ae642c8 x15: ffff700011ede14c\nx14: 1ffff00011ede14c x13: 0000000000000004 x12: ffffffffffffffff\nx11: ffff700011ede14c x10: 0000000000ff0100 x9 : 5fa3c1ffaf0ff000\nx8 : 5fa3c1ffaf0ff000 x7 : 0000000000000001 x6 : 0000000000000001\nx5 : ffff8000a03a7078 x4 : ffff80008f766c20 x3 : ffff80008054d360\nx2 : 0000000000000000 x1 : 0000000000000201 x0 : 0000000000000000\nCall trace:\n kvfree_call_rcu+0x94/0x3f0 mm/slab_common.c:1955 (P)\n cipso_v4_sock_setattr+0x2f0/0x3f4 net/ipv4/cipso_ipv4.c:1914\n netlbl_sock_setattr+0x240/0x334 net/netlabel/netlabel_kapi.c:1000\n smack_netlbl_add+0xa8/0x158 security/smack/smack_lsm.c:2581\n smack_inode_setsecurity+0x378/0x430 security/smack/smack_lsm.c:2912\n security_inode_setsecurity+0x118/0x3c0 security/security.c:2706\n __vfs_setxattr_noperm+0x174/0x5c4 fs/xattr.c:251\n __vfs_setxattr_locked+0x1ec/0x218 fs/xattr.c:295\n vfs_setxattr+0x158/0x2ac fs/xattr.c:321\n do_setxattr fs/xattr.c:636 [inline]\n file_setxattr+0x1b8/0x294 fs/xattr.c:646\n path_setxattrat+0x2ac/0x320 fs/xattr.c:711\n __do_sys_fsetxattr fs/xattr.c:761 [inline]\n __se_sys_fsetxattr fs/xattr.c:758 [inline]\n __arm64_sys_fsetxattr+0xc0/0xdc fs/xattr.c:758\n __invoke_syscall arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:35 [inline]\n invoke_syscall+0x98/0x2b8 arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:49\n el0_svc_common+0x130/0x23c arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:132\n do_el0_svc+0x48/0x58 arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:151\n el0_svc+0x58/0x180 arch/arm64/kernel/entry-common.c:879\n el0t_64_sync_handler+0x84/0x12c arch/arm64/kernel/entry-common.c:898\n el0t_64_sync+0x198/0x19c arch/arm64/kernel/entry.S:600\n\n[\n---truncated---",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38475"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5b02e397929e5b13b969ef1f8e43c7951e2864f5"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/60ada4fe644edaa6c2da97364184b0425e8aeaf5"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/67a167a6b8b45607bc34aa541d1c75097d18d460"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-476" ],
    "severity" : "MODERATE",
    "github_reviewed" : false,
    "github_reviewed_at" : null,
    "nvd_published_at" : "2025-07-28T12:15:29Z"
  }
}