CVE-2025-37801

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

spi: spi-imx: Add check for spi_imx_setupxfer()

Add check for the return value of spi_imx_setupxfer(). spi_imx->rx and spi_imx->tx function pointer can be NULL when spi_imx_setupxfer() return error, and make NULL pointer dereference.

Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 0000000000000000 Call trace: 0x0 spi_imx_pio_transfer+0x50/0xd8 spi_imx_transfer_one+0x18c/0x858 spi_transfer_one_message+0x43c/0x790 __spi_pump_transfer_message+0x238/0x5d4 __spi_sync+0x2b0/0x454 spi_write_then_read+0x11c/0x200

A NULL pointer dereference flaw was found in the Linux kernel's Freescale i.MX SPI driver (spi-imx). The driver does not check the return value of spi_imx_setupxfer(); when that call fails, the spi_imx->rx and spi_imx->tx function pointers can remain NULL and are then invoked during an SPI transfer (for example via the spi_write_then_read() path), causing a kernel NULL pointer dereference and crash. Red Hat rates this issue as Low severity: triggering it requires local access with high privileges and the impact is limited to availability (denial of service), as reflected in Red Hat's CVSS 4.4 (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H), while NIST assigns 5.5 (Moderate). The CVEORG record scores it higher (7.8, Important), but its assumed confidentiality and integrity impacts are not consistent with the availability-only impact of this NULL pointer dereference. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 (kernel and kernel-rt) and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 (kernel) are affected; the fix for these streams is currently deferred to a future update, leaving a residual risk of a local denial of service on systems that use the i.MX SPI driver. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, 7, and 8, Red Hat In-Vehicle OS 1.x, and Hosted OpenShift clusters (ARO and OSD) are not affected because the vulnerable code is not present in those kernels.

The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.

Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base, or stability.