---
id: CVE-2025-38735
title: 'gve: prevent ethtool ops after shutdown'
summary: |-
  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 …
severity: high
cvss: 7.8
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H'
cvssSource: cna
vendor: Linux
product: Linux
affected:
  - >-
    Linux >= 974365e518617c9ce917f61aacbba07e4bedcca0 <
    48a4e89d50e8ea52e800bc7865970b92fcf4647c
  - >-
    Linux >= 974365e518617c9ce917f61aacbba07e4bedcca0 <
    ba51d73408edf815cbaeab148625576c2dd90192
  - >-
    Linux >= 974365e518617c9ce917f61aacbba07e4bedcca0 <
    a7efffeecb881b4649fdc30de020ef910f35d646
  - >-
    Linux >= 974365e518617c9ce917f61aacbba07e4bedcca0 <
    9d8a41e9a4ff83ff666de811e7f012167cdc00e9
  - >-
    Linux >= 974365e518617c9ce917f61aacbba07e4bedcca0 <
    75a9a46d67f46d608205888f9b34e315c1786345
  - Linux 5.17
ssvc:
  exploitation: none
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: total
  timestamp: '2026-10-15T21:53:07.302446Z'
published: '2025-09-05'
updated: '2026-10-15'
sourceUpdated: '2026-10-15T22:02:28.815Z'
source: CVEORG
sourceUrl: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38735'
references:
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/48a4e89d50e8ea52e800bc7865970b92fcf4647c'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ba51d73408edf815cbaeab148625576c2dd90192'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a7efffeecb881b4649fdc30de020ef910f35d646'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9d8a41e9a4ff83ff666de811e7f012167cdc00e9'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/75a9a46d67f46d608205888f9b34e315c1786345'
tags:
  - cve.org
epss: 0.0017
epssPercentile: 0.0632
ingestedAt: '2026-10-15T22:48:25.518Z'
---

## Overview

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.

## Affected

- `Linux >= 974365e518617c9ce917f61aacbba07e4bedcca0 < 48a4e89d50e8ea52e800bc7865970b92fcf4647c`
- `Linux >= 974365e518617c9ce917f61aacbba07e4bedcca0 < ba51d73408edf815cbaeab148625576c2dd90192`
- `Linux >= 974365e518617c9ce917f61aacbba07e4bedcca0 < a7efffeecb881b4649fdc30de020ef910f35d646`
- `Linux >= 974365e518617c9ce917f61aacbba07e4bedcca0 < 9d8a41e9a4ff83ff666de811e7f012167cdc00e9`
- `Linux >= 974365e518617c9ce917f61aacbba07e4bedcca0 < 75a9a46d67f46d608205888f9b34e315c1786345`
- `Linux 5.17`

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.