CVE Catalog

CVE-2025-39871

HighCVSS 7.8
Published: Updated: Translated: NVD NIST

Exploitation Probability (EPSS)

Low risk
0.14%

4th percentile - higher than 4% of all known CVEs

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the idxd (DMA Engine) driver had an improper idxd_free() call causing a duplicate put_device(), leading to a reference count underflow and potential use-after-free during device removal or module unload.

Risk Assessment

This vulnerability may cause system panic or use-after-free, potentially allowing a local attacker to escalate privileges or destabilize the system.

Recommendation

Immediately update the Linux kernel to a version containing the fix that removes the unnecessary idxd_free() call in idxd_remove().

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

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Original NVD description (English source)

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: dmaengine: idxd: Remove improper idxd_free The call to idxd_free() introduces a duplicate put_device() leading to a reference count underflow: refcount_t: underflow; use-after-free. WARNING: CPU: 15 PID: 4428 at lib/refcount.c:28 refcount_warn_saturate+0xbe/0x110 ... Call Trace: <TASK> idxd_remove+0xe4/0x120 [idxd] pci_device_remove+0x3f/0xb0 device_release_driver_internal+0x197/0x200 driver_detach+0x48/0x90 bus_remove_driver+0x74/0xf0 pci_unregister_driver+0x2e/0xb0 idxd_exit_module+0x34/0x7a0 [idxd] __do_sys_delete_module.constprop.0+0x183/0x280 do_syscall_64+0x54/0xd70 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e The idxd_unregister_devices() which is invoked at the very beginning of idxd_remove(), already takes care of the necessary put_device() through the following call path: idxd_unregister_devices() -> device_unregister() -> put_device() In addition, when CONFIG_DEBUG_KOBJECT_RELEASE is enabled, put_device() may trigger asynchronous cleanup via schedule_delayed_work(). If idxd_free() is called immediately after, it can result in a use-after-free. Remove the improper idxd_free() to avoid both the refcount underflow and potential memory corruption during module unload.

Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS