CVE-2025-38169
Our Analysis: Embedded
Our model has classified this vulnerability as relevant to Embedded Systems, helping your team prioritize efforts effectively.
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
arm64/fpsimd: Avoid clobbering kernel FPSIMD state with SMSTOP
On system with SME, a thread's kernel FPSIMD state may be erroneously
clobbered during a context switch immediately after that state is
restored. Systems without SME are unaffected.
If the CPU happens to be in streaming SVE mode before a context switch
to a thread with kernel FPSIMD state, fpsimd_thread_switch() will
restore the kernel FPSIMD state using fpsimd_load_kernel_state() while
the CPU is still in streaming SVE mode. When fpsimd_thread_switch()
subsequently calls fpsimd_flush_cpu_state(), this will execute an
SMSTOP, causing an exit from streaming SVE mode. The exit from
streaming SVE mode will cause the hardware to reset a number of
FPSIMD/SVE/SME registers, clobbering the FPSIMD state.
Fix this by calling fpsimd_flush_cpu_state() before restoring the kernel
FPSIMD state.