CVE-2025-38695 Cert Portal CVE debrief

Who should care

Administrators, integrators, and maintenance teams responsible for the Siemens SIMATIC CN 4100 systems named in the advisory, especially any deployment running a version before V5.0. Security and operations teams should also review whether the affected Linux lpfc path exists in their broader embedded or industrial Linux estate.

Technical summary

The vulnerability is in the Linux kernel lpfc driver cleanup logic. If lpfc_sli4_read_rev() fails during lpfc_sli4_hba_setup(), the cleanup routine lpfc_sli4_vport_delete_fcp_xri_aborted() may execute before hardware queues are allocated. That creates a path where taking abts_io_buf_list_lock for the first queue can dereference phba->sli4_hba.hdwq while it is still null. The remediation is to check phba->sli4_hba.hdwq and return early when initialization has already failed.

Defensive priority

High priority for affected deployments: the advisory rates the issue HIGH and assigns high impact to confidentiality, integrity, and availability in the provided CVSS vector, with vendor remediation directing upgrades to V5.0 or later.

Recommended defensive actions

• Verify whether your Siemens SIMATIC CN 4100 deployment is in scope of the advisory and whether it is running a version earlier than V5.0.
• Apply the vendor remediation and upgrade to V5.0 or later as directed by Siemens.
• Use a maintenance window and validate the update in your operational environment before broad rollout.
• Review CISA and Siemens advisory updates for any revisions to affected versions or remediation guidance.
• Follow CISA industrial control system defensive guidance and defense-in-depth practices while remediation is planned.

Evidence notes

The source advisory text explicitly states that a failure in lpfc_sli4_read_rev() during lpfc_sli4_hba_setup() can leave sli4_hba.hdwqs unallocated, and that cleanup may then dereference a null hdwq pointer when taking abts_io_buf_list_lock. The source also provides the CVSS vector CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H, references CWE-476, and records a Siemens remediation to update to V5.0 or later. CISA lists the advisory publication date as 2026-05-12 and a republication on 2026-05-14.

Official resources