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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2025-39966

HIGH · 7.0 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-10-15
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.12.50 / 6.16.10 or later.
See remediation →
72/100
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: iommufd: Fix race during abort for file descriptors fput() doesn't actually call file_operations release() synchronously, it puts the file on a work queue and it will be released eventually. This is normally fine, except for iommufd the file and the iommufd_object are tied to gether. The file has the object as it's private_data and holds a users refcount, while the object is expected to remain alive as long as the file is. When the allocation of a new object aborts before installing the file it will fput() the file and then go on to immediately kfree() the obj. This causes a UAF once the workqueue completes the fput() and tries to decrement the users refcount. Fix this by putting the core code in charge of the file lifetime, and call __fput_sync() during abort to ensure that release() is called before kfree. __fput_sync() is a bit too tricky to open code in all the object implementations. Instead the objects tell the core code where the file pointer is and the core will take care of the life cycle. If the object is successfully allocated then the file will hold a users refcount and the iommufd_object cannot be destroyed. It is worth noting that close(); ioctl(IOMMU_DESTROY); doesn't have an issue because close() is already using a synchronous version of fput(). The UAF looks like this: BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in iommufd_eventq_fops_release+0x45/0xc0 drivers/iommu/iommufd/eventq.c:376 Write of size 4 at addr ffff888059c97804 by task syz.0.46/6164 CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 6164 Comm: syz.0.46 Not tainted syzkaller #0 PREEMPT(full) Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 08/18/2025 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 check_region_inline mm/kasan/generic.c:183 [inline] kasan_check_range+0x100/0x1b0 mm/kasan/generic.c:189 instrument_atomic_read_write include/linux/instrumented.h:96 [inline] atomic_fetch_sub_release include/linux/atomic/atomic-instrumented.h:400 [inline] __refcount_dec include/linux/refcount.h:455 [inline] refcount_dec include/linux/refcount.h:476 [inline] iommufd_eventq_fops_release+0x45/0xc0 drivers/iommu/iommufd/eventq.c:376 __fput+0x402/0xb70 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+0x41c/0x4c0 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:100 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f

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-362

Two operations that should be atomic can interleave, so an attacker who wins a narrow timing window reaches an inconsistent, exploitable state. These bugs are subtle and easy to miss in review. Fixing them properly means correct locking or atomic operations around the shared resource.

General guidance for the race condition 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:>= 6.11, < 6.12.50>= 6.13, < 6.16.10= 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
High
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/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 6.12.50 / 6.16.10 or later
Fixed in 6.12.506.16.10
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

6.12.50 or 6.16.10+ depending on current branch

  1. Identify the currently running kernel version using `uname -r`
  2. Determine which branch your kernel falls into: 6.11-6.12.x, 6.13-6.15.x, or 6.17
  3. For 6.11-6.12.x kernels: upgrade to kernel version 6.12.50 or later
  4. For 6.13-6.15.x kernels: upgrade to kernel version 6.16.10 or later
  5. For 6.17 kernels: upgrade to the next stable release (6.17.1+ or 6.18) which contains the fix
  6. Verify the fix commit 17195a7d754a5c6a31888702ca93f6f08f3383ad is included in the target kernel using `git log --oneline <version> | grep 17195a7`
  7. Reboot into the updated kernel and confirm the system boots without issues
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require matching kernel modules; ensure compatible drivers and modules are available for the new kernel version

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 $1,950. 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-2025-39966 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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