CVE-2025-38235

HID: appletb-kbd: fix "appletb_backlight" backlight device reference counting

Severity Score

7.1

*CVSS v3

Exploit Likelihood

*EPSS

Affected Versions

*CPE

Public Exploits

*Multiple Sources

Exploited in Wild

*KEV

Decision

*SSVC

Descriptions

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: HID: appletb-kbd: fix "appletb_backlight" backlight device reference counting During appletb_kbd_probe, probe attempts to get the backlight device
by name. When this happens backlight_device_get_by_name looks for a
device in the backlight class which has name "appletb_backlight" and
upon finding a match it increments the reference count for the device
and returns it to the caller. However this reference is never released
leading to a reference leak. Fix this by decrementing the backlight device reference count on removal
via put_device and on probe failure.

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: HID: appletb-kbd: fix "appletb_backlight" backlight device reference counting During appletb_kbd_probe, probe attempts to get the backlight device by name. When this happens backlight_device_get_by_name looks for a device in the backlight class which has name "appletb_backlight" and upon finding a match it increments the reference count for the device and returns it to the caller. However this reference is never released leading to a reference leak. Fix this by decrementing the backlight device reference count on removal via put_device and on probe failure.

*Credits: N/A

Attack Vector

Local

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

Low

User Interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

High

Integrity

None

Availability

High

Attack Vector

Local

Attack Complexity

Low

Authentication

None

Confidentiality

Partial

Integrity

None

Availability

Complete

* Common Vulnerability Scoring System

SSVC

Decision:-

Exploitation

Automatable

Tech. Impact

* Organization's Worst-case Scenario

Timeline

2025-04-16 CVE Reserved
2025-07-06 CVE Published
2025-07-06 CVE Updated
2025-07-06 EPSS Updated
---------- Exploited in Wild
---------- KEV Due Date
---------- First Exploit

CWE

CAPEC

References (3)

URL	Tag	Source
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/93a0fc48948107e0cc34e1de22c3cb363a8f2783	Vuln. Introduced

URL	Date	SRC

URL	Date	SRC
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/751d5437112a3f387de4ef6d2d1c131068ff7627	2025-07-06
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4540e41e753a7d69ecd3f5bad51fe620205c3a18	2025-06-20

URL	Date	SRC

Affected Vendors, Products, and Versions

Vendor		Product				Version		Other		Status
Vendor	Product	Version	Other	Status	<-- -->	Vendor	Product	Version	Other	Status
Linux Search vendor "Linux"		Linux Kernel Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel"				>= 6.15 < 6.15.5 Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version " >= 6.15 < 6.15.5"		en		Affected
Linux Search vendor "Linux"		Linux Kernel Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel"				>= 6.15 < 6.16-rc4 Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version " >= 6.15 < 6.16-rc4"		en		Affected