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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2025-39852

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-09-19
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.12.46 / 6.16.6 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: net/tcp: Fix socket memory leak in TCP-AO failure handling for IPv6 When tcp_ao_copy_all_matching() fails in tcp_v6_syn_recv_sock() it just exits the function. This ends up causing a memory-leak: unreferenced object 0xffff0000281a8200 (size 2496): comm "softirq", pid 0, jiffies 4295174684 hex dump (first 32 bytes): 7f 00 00 06 7f 00 00 06 00 00 00 00 cb a8 88 13 ................ 0a 00 03 61 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ...a............ backtrace (crc 5ebdbe15): kmemleak_alloc+0x44/0xe0 kmem_cache_alloc_noprof+0x248/0x470 sk_prot_alloc+0x48/0x120 sk_clone_lock+0x38/0x3b0 inet_csk_clone_lock+0x34/0x150 tcp_create_openreq_child+0x3c/0x4a8 tcp_v6_syn_recv_sock+0x1c0/0x620 tcp_check_req+0x588/0x790 tcp_v6_rcv+0x5d0/0xc18 ip6_protocol_deliver_rcu+0x2d8/0x4c0 ip6_input_finish+0x74/0x148 ip6_input+0x50/0x118 ip6_sublist_rcv+0x2fc/0x3b0 ipv6_list_rcv+0x114/0x170 __netif_receive_skb_list_core+0x16c/0x200 netif_receive_skb_list_internal+0x1f0/0x2d0 This is because in tcp_v6_syn_recv_sock (and the IPv4 counterpart), when exiting upon error, inet_csk_prepare_forced_close() and tcp_done() need to be called. They make sure the newsk will end up being correctly free'd. tcp_v4_syn_recv_sock() makes this very clear by having the put_and_exit label that takes care of things. So, this patch here makes sure tcp_v4_syn_recv_sock and tcp_v6_syn_recv_sock have similar error-handling and thus fixes the leak for TCP-AO.

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
How this class of weakness works · CWE-401

Allocated memory is never released on some path, so a long-running service or a repeatedly triggered request steadily consumes memory until performance degrades or the process crashes. Attackers exploit it by simply driving the leaking path. Remediation is pairing every allocation with a release and using ownership patterns or tooling to catch what leaks.

General guidance for the memory leak class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

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:>= 6.7, < 6.12.46>= 6.13, < 6.16.6= 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 6.12.46 / 6.16.6 or later
Fixed in 6.12.466.16.6
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

6.12.46+ or 6.16.6+ (depending on which branch you're on)

  1. Identify the currently running kernel version using 'uname -r'
  2. For systems running kernel 6.12.x: upgrade to kernel version 6.12.46 or later
  3. For systems running kernel 6.13.x through 6.17: upgrade to kernel version 6.16.6 or later
  4. Reboot the system to load the fixed kernel
  5. Verify the fix is applied by checking the kernel version with 'uname -r'
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require system reboot and could have compatibility implications with custom modules or drivers

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

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-39852 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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