CVE-2025-38665: Debian Linux

Medium severity, CVSS 5.5. EPSS: 0.1% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: can: netlink: can_changelink(): fix NULL pointer deref of struct can_priv::do_set_mode Andrei Lalaev reported a NULL pointer deref when a CAN device is restarted from Bus Off and the driver does not implement the struct can_priv::do_set_mode callback. There are 2 code path that call struct can_priv::do_set_mode: - directly by a manual restart from the user space, via can_changelink() - delayed automatic restart after bus off (deactivated by default) To prevent the NULL pointer deference, refuse a manual restart or configure the automatic restart delay in can_changelink() and report the error via extack to user space. As an additional safety measure let can_restart() return an error if can_priv::do_set_mode is not set instead of dereferencing it unchecked.

Affected products

• Debian Debian Linux: version 11.0 only
• Linux Linux Kernel: from 2.6.31, before 6.1.148 (fixed in 6.1.148); from 6.2, before 6.6.101 (fixed in 6.6.101); from 6.7, before 6.12.41 (fixed in 6.12.41); from 6.13, before 6.15.9 (fixed in 6.15.9); version 6.16 only

Published 2025-08-22. Last modified 2026-06-17.