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Fencer Vulns
high 7.8

CVE-2025-40159 json

xsk: Harden userspace-supplied xdp_desc validation

published 2025-11-12 11 mo ago modified 2026-10-19 20 d ago also EUVD-2025-124924

cvss
7.8
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.2%
EPSS 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 4%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

xsk: Harden userspace-supplied xdp_desc validation

Turned out certain clearly invalid values passed in xdp_desc from userspace can pass xp_{,un}aligned_validate_desc() and then lead to UBs or just invalid frames to be queued for xmit.

desc->len close to ``U32_MAX`` with a non-zero pool->tx_metadata_len can cause positive integer overflow and wraparound, the same way low enough desc->addr with a non-zero pool->tx_metadata_len can cause negative integer overflow. Both scenarios can then pass the validation successfully. This doesn't happen with valid XSk applications, but can be used to perform attacks.

Always promote desc->len to ``u64`` first to exclude positive overflows of it. Use explicit check_{add,sub}_overflow() when validating desc->addr (which is ``u64`` already).

bloat-o-meter reports a little growth of the code size:

add/remove: 0/0 grow/shrink: 2/1 up/down: 60/-16 (44) Function old new delta xskq_cons_peek_desc 299 330 +31 xsk_tx_peek_release_desc_batch 973 1002 +29 xsk_generic_xmit 3148 3132 -16

but hopefully this doesn't hurt the performance much.

Patch / fix

  • Linux Linux 6.12.54, 6.17.4, 6.18
  • linux Debian 13 6.12.57-1
  • linux Debian 14 6.17.6-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2025-40159

  • linux Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-106.106
  • linux Ubuntu 25.10 6.17.0-14.14
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1050.53
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 25.10 6.17.0-1007.7
  • linux-gcp Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1052.55
  • linux-gcp Ubuntu 25.10 6.17.0-1007.7
  • linux-gke Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1048.53
  • linux-ibm Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1049.49

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40159

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • kernel-livepatch-SLE16_Update_2 SLES 16.0, Linux Micro 6.2, SLES for SAP applications 16.0 5-160000.1.1
  • kernel-livepatch-SLE16_Update_1 SLES 16.0, Linux Micro 6.2, SLES for SAP applications 16.0 7-160000.1.1
  • kernel-livepatch-SLE16_Update_0 SLES 16.0, Linux Micro 6.2, SLES for SAP applications 16.0 9-160000.4.3
  • kernel-livepatch-MICRO-6-0-RT_Update_6 Linux Micro 6.1, Linux Micro 6.0 15-3.1
  • kernel-livepatch-MICRO-6-0-RT_Update_5 Linux Micro 6.1, Linux Micro 6.0 17-1.1
  • kernel-livepatch-MICRO-6-0-RT_Update_8 Linux Micro 6.1, Linux Micro 6.0 14-1.2
  • kernel-livepatch-MICRO-6-0-RT_Update_7 Linux Micro 6.1, Linux Micro 6.0 15-1.3
  • kernel-livepatch-MICRO-6-0-RT_Update_10 Linux Micro 6.1, Linux Micro 6.0 12-1.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2026:21102-1SUSE-SU-2026:21221-1SUSE-SU-2026:21099-1SUSE-SU-2026:21219-1SUSE-SU-2026:1283-1SUSE-SU-2026:1278-1

  • kernel-rt openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.8.1
  • dtb-aarch64 openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.8.1
  • kernel-64kb openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.8.1
  • kernel-syms openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.8.1
  • kernel-obs-qa openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.8.1
  • kernel-source openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.8.1
  • kernel-default openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.8.1
  • kernel-kvmsmall openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.8.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2025:20172-1

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2025-40159 updated cvss 5.5

kernel: xsk: Harden userspace-supplied xdp_desc validation

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 rv, perf, rtla, kernel, bpftool, libperf, +83 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 kernel
    affected: no fix available “Fix deferred”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, python-perf, kernel-kdump, +8 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, kernel-core, kernel-tools, +29 more
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
total
Assessed
24 d ago

Exploit prediction

0.15% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 4% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 7.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected products

  • Linux Linux

Classification

Technology feeds

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.