CVE-2025-38169
arm64/fpsimd: Avoid clobbering kernel FPSIMD state with SMSTOP
Published:
7/3/2025
Last updated:
8/5/2026
Reserved:
4/16/2025
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.
CNA assigner:
Linux (416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67)
Requested by:
n/a
Products affected (4)
| Product |
Vendor |
Version |
| Linux |
Linux
|
10.0.0.0
|
| Linux |
Linux
|
10.0.1.0
|
| Linux |
Linux
|
n/a
|
| Linux |
Linux
|
1.4.0.0
|