Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2025-39831

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-09-16
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.12.45 / 6.16.5 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click Patch available

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: fbnic: Move phylink resume out of service_task and into open/close The fbnic driver was presenting with the following locking assert coming out of a PM resume: [ 42.208116][ T164] RTNL: assertion failed at drivers/net/phy/phylink.c (2611) [ 42.208492][ T164] WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 164 at drivers/net/phy/phylink.c:2611 phylink_resume+0x190/0x1e0 [ 42.208872][ T164] Modules linked in: [ 42.209140][ T164] CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 164 Comm: bash Not tainted 6.17.0-rc2-virtme #134 PREEMPT(full) [ 42.209496][ T164] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 1.17.0-5.fc42 04/01/2014 [ 42.209861][ T164] RIP: 0010:phylink_resume+0x190/0x1e0 [ 42.210057][ T164] Code: 83 e5 01 0f 85 b0 fe ff ff c6 05 1c cd 3e 02 01 90 ba 33 0a 00 00 48 c7 c6 20 3a 1d a5 48 c7 c7 e0 3e 1d a5 e8 21 b8 90 fe 90 <0f> 0b 90 90 e9 86 fe ff ff e8 42 ea 1f ff e9 e2 fe ff ff 48 89 ef [ 42.210708][ T164] RSP: 0018:ffffc90000affbd8 EFLAGS: 00010296 [ 42.210983][ T164] RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffff8880078d8400 RCX: 0000000000000000 [ 42.211235][ T164] RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 1ffffffff4f10938 RDI: 0000000000000001 [ 42.211466][ T164] RBP: 0000000000000000 R08: ffffffffa2ae79ea R09: fffffbfff4b3eb84 [ 42.211707][ T164] R10: 0000000000000003 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ffff888007ad8000 [ 42.211997][ T164] R13: 0000000000000002 R14: ffff888006a18800 R15: ffffffffa34c59e0 [ 42.212234][ T164] FS: 00007f0dc8e39740(0000) GS:ffff88808f51f000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [ 42.212505][ T164] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [ 42.212704][ T164] CR2: 00007f0dc8e9fe10 CR3: 000000000b56d003 CR4: 0000000000772ef0 [ 42.213227][ T164] PKRU: 55555554 [ 42.213366][ T164] Call Trace: [ 42.213483][ T164] <TASK> [ 42.213565][ T164] __fbnic_pm_attach.isra.0+0x8e/0xa0 [ 42.213725][ T164] pci_reset_function+0x116/0x1d0 [ 42.213895][ T164] reset_store+0xa0/0x100 [ 42.214025][ T164] ? pci_dev_reset_attr_is_visible+0x50/0x50 [ 42.214221][ T164] ? sysfs_file_kobj+0xc1/0x1e0 [ 42.214374][ T164] ? sysfs_kf_write+0x65/0x160 [ 42.214526][ T164] kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x2f8/0x4c0 [ 42.214677][ T164] ? kernfs_vma_page_mkwrite+0x1f0/0x1f0 [ 42.214836][ T164] new_sync_write+0x308/0x6f0 [ 42.214987][ T164] ? __lock_acquire+0x34c/0x740 [ 42.215135][ T164] ? new_sync_read+0x6f0/0x6f0 [ 42.215288][ T164] ? lock_acquire.part.0+0xbc/0x260 [ 42.215440][ T164] ? ksys_write+0xff/0x200 [ 42.215590][ T164] ? perf_trace_sched_switch+0x6d0/0x6d0 [ 42.215742][ T164] vfs_write+0x65e/0xbb0 [ 42.215876][ T164] ksys_write+0xff/0x200 [ 42.215994][ T164] ? __ia32_sys_read+0xc0/0xc0 [ 42.216141][ T164] ? do_user_addr_fault+0x269/0x9f0 [ 42.216292][ T164] ? rcu_is_watching+0x15/0xd0 [ 42.216442][ T164] do_syscall_64+0xbb/0x360 [ 42.216591][ T164] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x4b/0x53 [ 42.216784][ T164] RIP: 0033:0x7f0dc8ea9986 A bit of digging showed that we were invoking the phylink_resume as a part of the fbnic_up path when we were enabling the service task while not holding the RTNL lock. We should be enabling this sooner as a part of the ndo_open path and then just letting the service task come online later. This will help to enforce the correct locking and brings the phylink interface online at the same time as the network interface, instead of at a later time. I tested this on QEMU to verify this was working by putting the system to sleep using "echo mem > /sys/power/state" to put the system to sleep in the guest and then using the command "system_wakeup" in the QEMU monitor.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis

A detailed technical summary for this CVE is being prepared.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Linux KernelOperating system
Affected:>= 6.11, < 6.12.45>= 6.13, < 6.16.5= 6.17

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 6.12.45 / 6.16.5 or later
Fixed in 6.12.456.16.5
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

6.12.45+ (for 6.12.x), 6.16.5+ (for 6.13-6.15.x), 6.18+ (for 6.17.x)

  1. Identify current kernel version using 'uname -r'
  2. For kernels 6.12.x: upgrade to kernel version 6.12.45 or later
  3. For kernels 6.13.x through 6.15.x: upgrade to kernel version 6.16.5 or later
  4. For kernel 6.17.x: upgrade to kernel version 6.18 or later
  5. For kernels 6.11.x (if applicable): upgrade to kernel version 6.12.45 or later
  6. Reboot the system to load the fixed kernel
  7. Verify the fix by checking the kernel version and testing PM resume functionality
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require driver recompilation or system reboot; ensure compatibility with other installed modules

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $1,600. Get the upgrade done

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

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