CVE-2025-38609: Debian Linux

Medium severity, CVSS 5.5. EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: PM / devfreq: Check governor before using governor->name Commit 96ffcdf239de ("PM / devfreq: Remove redundant governor_name from struct devfreq") removes governor_name and uses governor->name to replace it. But devfreq->governor may be NULL and directly using devfreq->governor->name may cause null pointer exception. Move the check of governor to before using governor->name.

Affected products

• Debian Debian Linux: version 11.0 only
• Linux Linux Kernel: from 5.11, before 5.15.190 (fixed in 5.15.190); from 5.16, before 6.1.148 (fixed in 6.1.148); from 6.2, before 6.6.102 (fixed in 6.6.102); from 6.7, before 6.12.42 (fixed in 6.12.42); from 6.13, before 6.15.10 (fixed in 6.15.10); from 6.16, before 6.16.1 (fixed in 6.16.1)

Published 2025-08-19. Last modified 2026-06-17.