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CVE Record

CVE-2025-38516: pinctrl: qcom: msm: mark certain pins as invalid for interrupts

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: pinctrl: qcom: msm: mark certain pins as invalid for interrupts On some platforms, the UFS-reset pin has no interrupt logic in TLMM but is nevertheless registered as a GPIO in the kernel. This enables the user-space to trigger a BUG() in the pinctrl-msm driver by running, for example: `gpiomon -c 0 113` on RB2. The exact culprit is requesting pins whose intr_detection_width setting is not 1 or 2 for interrupts. This hits a BUG() in msm_gpio_irq_set_type(). Potentially crashing the kernel due to an invalid request from user-space is not optimal, so let's go through the pins and mark those that would fail the check as invalid for the irq chip as we should not even register them as available irqs. This function can be extended if we determine that there are more corner-cases like this.

UnknownCVSS not scoredNot KEV-listedUpdated
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Glexia's TakeAutomated analysismoderate

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

CVE-2025-38516 is a Linux kernel availability bug on some Qualcomm-based systems. A local user can make an invalid GPIO interrupt request that reaches a kernel BUG condition, potentially crashing the device. Evidence points to platform-specific exposure, not broad remote compromise.

Executive priority

Treat as a targeted availability risk for Qualcomm-based Linux devices. Patch through normal kernel maintenance, faster for appliances where a crash affects safety, uptime, or physical operations.

Technical view

The issue is in the Qualcomm MSM pinctrl driver. Some pins, including a UFS-reset pin on referenced platforms, are registered as GPIOs despite lacking valid TLMM interrupt logic. Requests for pins with unsupported intr_detection_width values can hit BUG() in msm_gpio_irq_set_type(). Stable fixes mark such pins invalid for IRQ registration.

Likely exposure

Exposure is most likely on Linux systems using Qualcomm MSM/TLMM pinctrl support on affected kernel branches, especially embedded, mobile, IoT, or appliance platforms exposing GPIO access to local users or services.

Exploitation context

The source describes local user-space triggering a kernel crash through a GPIO interrupt request. KEV is false, and the bundle provides no evidence of active exploitation, public weaponization, remote reachability, privilege escalation, or data compromise.

Researcher notes

The evidence supports local denial of service via invalid GPIO IRQ registration. Scope depends on platform pin tables and downstream kernel backports. No CVSS, CWE, or exploit-in-the-wild evidence is provided, so avoid assuming broader impact.

Mitigation direction

  • Update to a vendor or stable Linux kernel containing the referenced fixes.
  • Follow Debian LTS or device vendor kernel advisories for packaged updates.
  • Restrict untrusted local access to GPIO character devices until patched.
  • Prioritize embedded Qualcomm devices where local services can access GPIOs.
  • Check vendor guidance if using a downstream or BSP kernel.

Validation and detection

  • Inventory systems using Qualcomm MSM/TLMM pinctrl drivers.
  • Compare running kernel builds against vendor advisories and referenced stable commits.
  • Review crash logs for BUG reports in msm_gpio_irq_set_type().
  • Confirm invalid pins are no longer registered as available IRQs after patching.
  • Avoid reproducing the triggering request on production systems.
Prepared
Confidence
medium
Sources
12

Public sources used

Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.

Potential ATT&CK relevance

Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context

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Vulnerability profileCVE Program record
Severity
Unknown
CVSS
Not scored
Known Exploited
No
Published
Official CVE source material

CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5

These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.

0CVSS vectors
3Timeline events
1ADP providers
11Source links

Vulnerability timeline

Timeline events are normalized from CVE metadata, CNA source timelines, ADP timelines, and KEV metadata when present.

  1. CVE reservedCVE Program

    The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.

  2. CVE publishedCVE Program

    The CVE record was published.

  3. CVE updatedCVE Program

    The CVE record metadata indicates this as the latest update time.

ADP provider summaries

CVECVE Program Container

Source materials

Affected products

Products and packages named in the record

VendorProductVersion / packageStatus
LinuxLinuxf365be0925729508fd8e62f8bdb504ef896cb6e0, f365be0925729508fd8e62f8bdb504ef896cb6e0, f365be0925729508fd8e62f8bdb504ef896cb6e0, f365be0925729508fd8e62f8bdb504ef896cb6e0, f365be0925729508fd8e62f8bdb504ef896cb6e0, f365be0925729508fd8e62f8bdb504ef896cb6e0, f365be0925729508fd8e62f8bdb504ef896cb6e0, f365be0925729508fd8e62f8bdb504ef896cb6e0unaffected
LinuxLinux3.14, 0, 5.4.296, 5.10.240, 5.15.189, 6.1.146, 6.6.99, 6.12.39, 6.15.7, 6.16affected
Weakness

CWE details

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