System crash via unchecked keep-alive thread pointer
Published Apr 16, 2025 · Updated May 11, 2026
NULL pointer dereference in the vchiq_arm driver in Linux allows local users to crash the system during driver removal. The removal path passes ka_thread to kthread_stop without ensuring that connection-state handling created a valid task_struct pointer. Affected versions are 6.11 through 6.12.22, 6.13 through 6.13.10, and 6.14 through 6.14.1; reaching the crash requires CAP_SYS_MODULE or root privileges to unload the driver.
Summary
What happened
NULL pointer dereference in the vchiq_arm driver in Linux allows local users to crash the system during driver removal. The removal path passes ka_thread to kthread_stop without ensuring that connection-state handling created a valid task_struct pointer. Affected versions are 6.11 through 6.12.22, 6.13 through 6.13.10, and 6.14 through 6.14.1; reaching the crash requires CAP_SYS_MODULE or root privileges to unload the driver.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-22078
- Published
- Apr 16, 2025
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1499.004
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- admin
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Apr 16, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 11, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.
Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=6.11
- Affected versionversion=863a756aaf49ed23d25bbb1dad999a85f09e1836 <1817c4b85011998604e5ff9a80a6e01adb7e7e81
- Affected versionversion=863a756aaf49ed23d25bbb1dad999a85f09e1836 <3db89bc6d973e2bcaa852f6409c98c228f39a926
- Affected versionversion=863a756aaf49ed23d25bbb1dad999a85f09e1836 <a915c896f95a989a7759a73f8c064f5dc3775175
- Affected versionversion=863a756aaf49ed23d25bbb1dad999a85f09e1836 <bd38395b901327f77a82112f006240de22cf2ceb
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
Check the software in your environment
Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.
Book a demo