Use-After-Free Vulnerability in Linux Kernel Affecting HID Appletb Keyboard Driver

CVE-2025-38378

What is CVE-2025-38378?

A use-after-free vulnerability has been identified in the HID appletb keyboard driver within the Linux kernel, specifically in the appletb_kbd_probe function. When a failure occurs after a timer has been armed to manage keyboard inactivity, the allocated structure for keyboard data is freed improperly, leading to potential access of stale memory. This flaw arises because the timer remains active and continues to reference the released memory block, posing a risk to system stability and security. Developers are advised to implement protection measures by ensuring the timer is appropriately disarmed during failure cases, notably by utilizing timer_delete_sync prior to freeing memory.

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