Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2025-39860

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-09-19
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.15 / 4.20 or later.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
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: Bluetooth: Fix use-after-free in l2cap_sock_cleanup_listen() syzbot reported the splat below without a repro. In the splat, a single thread calling bt_accept_dequeue() freed sk and touched it after that. The root cause would be the racy l2cap_sock_cleanup_listen() call added by the cited commit. bt_accept_dequeue() is called under lock_sock() except for l2cap_sock_release(). Two threads could see the same socket during the list iteration in bt_accept_dequeue(): CPU1 CPU2 (close()) ---- ---- sock_hold(sk) sock_hold(sk); lock_sock(sk) <-- block close() sock_put(sk) bt_accept_unlink(sk) sock_put(sk) <-- refcnt by bt_accept_enqueue() release_sock(sk) lock_sock(sk) sock_put(sk) bt_accept_unlink(sk) sock_put(sk) <-- last refcnt bt_accept_unlink(sk) <-- UAF Depending on the timing, the other thread could show up in the "Freed by task" part. Let's call l2cap_sock_cleanup_listen() under lock_sock() in l2cap_sock_release(). [0]: BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in debug_spin_lock_before kernel/locking/spinlock_debug.c:86 [inline] BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in do_raw_spin_lock+0x26f/0x2b0 kernel/locking/spinlock_debug.c:115 Read of size 4 at addr ffff88803b7eb1c4 by task syz.5.3276/16995 CPU: 3 UID: 0 PID: 16995 Comm: syz.5.3276 Not tainted syzkaller #0 PREEMPT(full) Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 1.16.3-debian-1.16.3-2~bpo12+1 04/01/2014 Call Trace: <TASK> __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:94 [inline] dump_stack_lvl+0x116/0x1f0 lib/dump_stack.c:120 print_address_description mm/kasan/report.c:378 [inline] print_report+0xcd/0x630 mm/kasan/report.c:482 kasan_report+0xe0/0x110 mm/kasan/report.c:595 debug_spin_lock_before kernel/locking/spinlock_debug.c:86 [inline] do_raw_spin_lock+0x26f/0x2b0 kernel/locking/spinlock_debug.c:115 spin_lock_bh include/linux/spinlock.h:356 [inline] release_sock+0x21/0x220 net/core/sock.c:3746 bt_accept_dequeue+0x505/0x600 net/bluetooth/af_bluetooth.c:312 l2cap_sock_cleanup_listen+0x5c/0x2a0 net/bluetooth/l2cap_sock.c:1451 l2cap_sock_release+0x5c/0x210 net/bluetooth/l2cap_sock.c:1425 __sock_release+0xb3/0x270 net/socket.c:649 sock_close+0x1c/0x30 net/socket.c:1439 __fput+0x3ff/0xb70 fs/file_table.c:468 task_work_run+0x14d/0x240 kernel/task_work.c:227 resume_user_mode_work include/linux/resume_user_mode.h:50 [inline] exit_to_user_mode_loop+0xeb/0x110 kernel/entry/common.c:43 exit_to_user_mode_prepare include/linux/irq-entry-common.h:225 [inline] syscall_exit_to_user_mode_work include/linux/entry-common.h:175 [inline] syscall_exit_to_user_mode include/linux/entry-common.h:210 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x3f6/0x4c0 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:100 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f RIP: 0033:0x7f2accf8ebe9 Code: ff ff c3 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 0f 1f 40 00 48 89 f8 48 89 f7 48 89 d6 48 89 ca 4d 89 c2 4d 89 c8 4c 8b 4c 24 08 0f 05 <48> 3d 01 f0 ff ff 73 01 c3 48 c7 c1 a8 ff ff ff f7 d8 64 89 01 48 RSP: 002b:00007ffdb6cb1378 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 00000000000001b4 RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: 00000000000426fb RCX: 00007f2accf8ebe9 RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 000000000000001e RDI: 0000000000000003 RBP: 00007f2acd1b7da0 R08: 0000000000000001 R09: 00000012b6cb166f R10: 0000001b30e20000 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 00007f2acd1b609c R13: 00007f2acd1b6090 R14: ffffffffffffffff R15: 00007ffdb6cb1490 </TASK> Allocated by task 5326: kasan_save_stack+0x33/0x60 mm/kasan/common.c:47 kasan_save_track+0x14/0x30 mm/kasan/common.c:68 poison_kmalloc_redzone mm/kasan/common.c:388 [inline] __kasan_kmalloc+0xaa/0xb0 mm/kasan/common.c:405 kasan_kmalloc include/linux/kasan.h:260 [inline] __do_kmalloc_node mm/slub.c:4365 [inline] __kmalloc_nopro ---truncated---

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-416

Memory is used after it has been freed, so its contents — now potentially attacker-controlled — drive the program's behaviour. With careful heap grooming this becomes code execution. The fix requires disciplined ownership of memory and often a targeted rework of the object lifecycle.

General guidance for the use after free 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:>= 4.14.322, < 4.15>= 4.19.291, < 4.20>= 5.4.253, < 5.4.299>= 5.10.190, < 5.10.243>= 5.15.126, < 5.15.192>= 6.1.45, < 6.1.151>= 6.4.10, < 6.6.105>= 6.7, < 6.12.46>= 6.13, < 6.16.6= 6.17
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 11.0

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
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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 4.15 / 4.20 / 5.4.299 or later
Fixed in 4.154.205.4.299
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Linux Kernel >= 4.15, >= 4.20, >= 5.4.299, >= 5.10.243, or Debian 12 (which includes fixed kernel)

  1. 1. Identify the currently running Linux kernel version using `uname -r`
  2. 2. Check if the running kernel version falls within an affected range: 4.14.322-4.14.x, 4.19.291-4.19.x, 5.4.253-5.4.x, or 5.10.190-5.10.x
  3. 3. For Debian 11 (Bullseye) systems, check kernel version with `dpkg -l | grep linux-image`
  4. 4. Upgrade to a fixed kernel version: 4.15 or later, 4.20 or later, 5.4.299 or later, or 5.10.243 or later
  5. 5. On Debian 11, apply vendor patches or upgrade to a newer Debian release (12-Bookworm) which includes fixed kernels
  6. 6. Reboot the system after kernel upgrade to load the fixed version
  7. 7. Verify the fix is applied by checking the kernel version and confirming the commit is included: `grep -r 2ca99fc3512a /boot/config-*` or check kernel release notes
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require system reboot and could introduce compatibility issues with custom kernel modules or older software depending on API/ABI changes in newer kernel versions

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 $3,200. 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-2025-39860 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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