Junglewise Threat Intelligence

CVE-2025-38547: Linux Kernel missing sentinel in AXP717 ADC channel maps

CVE-2025-38547 · Severity: high · CVSS 7.3 · Published 2025-08-16

Technologies: Linux Kernel. Vendors: Linux.

Executive brief

A vulnerability was identified in the Linux kernel's support for certain Analog-to-Digital Converters (ADC) used in power management chips. A missing technical marker in the software's internal map could lead to memory errors, potentially allowing a local user to cause a system crash or gain unauthorized access to sensitive information. This issue primarily affects systems using AXP717 hardware components.

Technical details

A vulnerability exists in the axp20x_adc driver within the Industrial I/O (IIO) subsystem of the Linux kernel. The 'axp717_maps' array was missing a null sentinel entry at the end of the struct iio_map array. When the kernel iterates through this map, the lack of a terminator causes it to read past the intended memory boundary, triggering a Kernel Address Sanitizer (KASAN) warning. A local attacker with low privileges could potentially exploit this out-of-bounds read/write condition to compromise kernel memory integrity or availability. The issue has been resolved by adding the missing sentinel entry in the affected driver file (drivers/iio/adc/axp20x_adc.c).

Affected products

  • Linux Linux Kernel 6.12 to 6.12.40, 6.13 to 6.15.8, 6.16-rc1 to 6.16-rc6

Timeline

  • 2025-08-16: disclosed
  • 2025-08-16: advisory
  • 2025-07-24: patched

References

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