Linux Kernel Vulnerability in Performance Monitoring, Intel Products Affected

CVE-2025-38055

What is CVE-2025-38055?

A vulnerability in the Linux kernel's performance monitoring subsystem, specifically affecting the PEBS-via-PT feature, poses a significant risk of segmentation faults. When utilizing sample frequency over sample period, the system may experience crashes due to NULL pointer dereferences. This issue arises because the function intel_pmu_pebs_event_update_no_drain() incorrectly assumes that all PEBS-enabled bits correspond to counter indexes, leading to unpredictable behavior and potential system instability. A fix has been implemented to address this by correctly passing the mask of counter bits.

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