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VulnerabilityAwaiting classification

CVE-2025-40258

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-12-04
No fix yet
No fix has been published. The vendor has not shipped a fixed release or patch. You remain exposed.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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: mptcp: fix race condition in mptcp_schedule_work() syzbot reported use-after-free in mptcp_schedule_work() [1] Issue here is that mptcp_schedule_work() schedules a work, then gets a refcount on sk->sk_refcnt if the work was scheduled. This refcount will be released by mptcp_worker(). [A] if (schedule_work(...)) { [B] sock_hold(sk); return true; } Problem is that mptcp_worker() can run immediately and complete before [B] We need instead : sock_hold(sk); if (schedule_work(...)) return true; sock_put(sk); [1] refcount_t: addition on 0; use-after-free. WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 29 at lib/refcount.c:25 refcount_warn_saturate+0xfa/0x1d0 lib/refcount.c:25 Call Trace: <TASK> __refcount_add include/linux/refcount.h:-1 [inline] __refcount_inc include/linux/refcount.h:366 [inline] refcount_inc include/linux/refcount.h:383 [inline] sock_hold include/net/sock.h:816 [inline] mptcp_schedule_work+0x164/0x1a0 net/mptcp/protocol.c:943 mptcp_tout_timer+0x21/0xa0 net/mptcp/protocol.c:2316 call_timer_fn+0x17e/0x5f0 kernel/time/timer.c:1747 expire_timers kernel/time/timer.c:1798 [inline] __run_timers kernel/time/timer.c:2372 [inline] __run_timer_base+0x648/0x970 kernel/time/timer.c:2384 run_timer_base kernel/time/timer.c:2393 [inline] run_timer_softirq+0xb7/0x180 kernel/time/timer.c:2403 handle_softirqs+0x22f/0x710 kernel/softirq.c:622 __do_softirq kernel/softirq.c:656 [inline] run_ktimerd+0xcf/0x190 kernel/softirq.c:1138 smpboot_thread_fn+0x542/0xa60 kernel/smpboot.c:160 kthread+0x711/0x8a0 kernel/kthread.c:463 ret_from_fork+0x4bc/0x870 arch/x86/kernel/process.c:158 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:245

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.

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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
Recommended fix Moderate confidence
  1. Apply the code fix to net/mptcp/protocol.c in the mptcp_schedule_work() function: Move sock_hold(sk) BEFORE schedule_work() call, and add sock_put(sk) if schedule_work() returns false
  2. The corrected code flow should be: sock_hold(sk); if (schedule_work(&msk->work)) return true; sock_put(sk); return false;
  3. Rebuild the Linux kernel with the fix
  4. Reboot the system with the patched kernel

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

No vendor fix exists The vendor has not published a patch for this.

There is no version to upgrade to and no patch to apply. Every affected install stays exposed until the vendor ships a fix — or somebody else builds one.

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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

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