Local privilege escalation via freed dm dereference
Published Feb 27, 2025 · Updated May 23, 2026
Use-after-free in the Linux kernel dm9000 driver allows local users to escalate privileges when the network device is removed. In dm9000_drv_remove(), free_netdev() releases the netdev-private dm object before later cleanup code dereferences dm to release platform resources. Exploitation requires local low-privileged access and a system using the Davicom DM9000 driver; successful memory corruption grants kernel-level control.
Summary
What happened
Use-after-free in the Linux kernel dm9000 driver allows local users to escalate privileges when the network device is removed. In dm9000_drv_remove(), free_netdev() releases the netdev-private dm object before later cleanup code dereferences dm to release platform resources. Exploitation requires local low-privileged access and a system using the Davicom DM9000 driver; successful memory corruption grants kernel-level control.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-21715
- Published
- Feb 27, 2025
- Updated
- May 23, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-416, T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Feb 27, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 23, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=4.14.226 <4.15
- Affected versionversion=4.19.181 <4.20
- Affected versionversion=427b3fc3d5244fef9c1f910a9c699f2690642f83
- Affected versionversion=4.4.262 <4.5
- Affected versionversion=4.9.262 <4.10
- Affected versionversion=4fd0654b8f2129b68203974ddee15f804ec011c2 <a53cb72043443ac787ec0b5fa17bb3f8ff3d462b
- Affected versionversion=5.10.24 <5.10.235
- Affected versionversion=5.11.7 <5.12
- Affected versionversion=5.12
- Affected versionversion=5.4.106 <5.4.291
- Affected versionversion=9808f032c4d971cbf2b01411a0a2a8ee0040efe3
- Affected versionversion=9c49181c201d434186ca6b1a7b52e29f4169f6f8
- Affected versionversion=a1f308089257616cdb91b4334c5eaa81ae17e387
- Affected versionversion=cf9e60aa69ae6c40d3e3e4c94dd6c8de31674e9b <19e65c45a1507a1a2926649d2db3583ed9d55fd9
- Affected versionversion=cf9e60aa69ae6c40d3e3e4c94dd6c8de31674e9b <2013c95df6752d9c88221d0f0f37b6f197969390
- Affected versionversion=cf9e60aa69ae6c40d3e3e4c94dd6c8de31674e9b <5a54367a7c2378c65aaa4d3cfd952f26adef7aa7
- Affected versionversion=cf9e60aa69ae6c40d3e3e4c94dd6c8de31674e9b <7d7d201eb3b766abe590ac0dda7a508b7db3e357
- Affected versionversion=cf9e60aa69ae6c40d3e3e4c94dd6c8de31674e9b <c411f9a5fdc9158e8f7c57eac961d3df3eb4d8ca
- Affected versionversion=cf9e60aa69ae6c40d3e3e4c94dd6c8de31674e9b <c94ab07edc2843e2f3d46dbd82e5c681503aaadf
- Affected versionversion=d182994b2b6e23778b146a230efac8f1d77a3445
- Affected versionversion=d28e783c20033b90a64d4e1307bafb56085d8184 <db79e982c5f9e39ab710cbce55b05f2f5e6f1ca9
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
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Public exploit references
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Technologies
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