Skip to content
Fencer Vulns
no cvss —

CVE-2025-40194 json

cpufreq: intel_pstate: Fix object lifecycle issue in update_qos_request()

published 2025-11-12 11 mo ago modified 2026-10-19 20 d ago also EUVD-2025-150380

cvss
—
not scored
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.2%
EPSS 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 11%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

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

cpufreq: intel_pstate: Fix object lifecycle issue in update_qos_request()

The cpufreq_cpu_put() call in update_qos_request() takes place too early because the latter subsequently calls freq_qos_update_request() that indirectly accesses the policy object in question through the QoS request object passed to it.

Fortunately, update_qos_request() is called under intel_pstate_driver_lock, so this issue does not matter for changing the intel_pstate operation mode, but it theoretically can cause a crash to occur on CPU device hot removal (which currently can only happen in virt, but it is formally supported nevertheless).

Address this issue by modifying update_qos_request() to drop the reference to the policy later.

Patch / fix

  • Linux Linux 5.4.301, 5.10.246, 5.15.195, 6.1.157, 6.6.113, 6.12.54, 6.17.4, 6.18
  • linux Debian 12 6.1.158-1
  • linux Debian 13 6.12.57-1
  • linux Debian 14 6.17.6-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2025-40194

  • linux Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-170.180
  • linux Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-106.106
  • linux Ubuntu 25.10 6.17.0-14.14
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-1100.107
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1050.53
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 25.10 6.17.0-1007.7
  • linux-gcp Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-1100.109
  • linux-gcp Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1052.55

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40194

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-source Linux Micro 6.1, Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-38.1
  • kernel-default Linux Micro 6.1, Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-38.1
  • kernel-kvmsmall Linux Micro 6.1, Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-38.1
  • kernel-default-base Linux Micro 6.1, Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-38.1.21.15
  • kernel-rt Linux Micro 6.1, Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-39.1
  • kernel-source-rt Linux Micro 6.1, Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-39.1
  • kernel-rt Real Time Module 15 SP6, openSUSE Leap 15.6 6.4.0-150600.10.61.1
  • kernel-syms-rt Real Time Module 15 SP6, openSUSE Leap 15.6 6.4.0-150600.10.61.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2026:20473-1SUSE-SU-2026:20496-1SUSE-SU-2026:20039-1SUSE-SU-2026:20059-1SUSE-SU-2025:4521-1SUSE-SU-2025:4517-1

  • 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

  • kernel Azure Linux 3.0 6.6.117.1-1

azure linux advisories AZL-70094

Azure Linux vulnerability data, Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation, from https://github.com/microsoft/AzureLinuxVulnerabilityData via OSV, under the MIT licence; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. MIT

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-2025-40194 updated cvss 5.8

kernel: cpufreq: intel_pstate: Fix object lifecycle issue in update_qos_request()

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, kernel-core, kernel-tools, +29 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 rv, perf, rtla, kernel, bpftool, libperf, +83 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 kernel
    affected: workaround, no fix available
  • 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
    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

Exploit prediction

0.21% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 11% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

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.