Task-state corruption via unchecked SIMD use
Published Sep 15, 2025 · Updated Aug 5, 2026
Register corruption in Linux 6.16 on arm64 allows local users to alter task state or produce incorrect Poly1305 MACs in no-SIMD contexts. The arm64 Poly1305 glue code calls SIMD-backed functions without checking may_use_simd(), so calls made while SIMD registers are unavailable can overwrite unrelated tasks' registers or return a wrong authenticator. Reachability requires local low-privileged execution on arm64 and a kernel path that invokes Poly1305 while SIMD use is prohibited; the documented consequences are register corruption and incorrect MAC computation.
Summary
What happened
Register corruption in Linux 6.16 on arm64 allows local users to alter task state or produce incorrect Poly1305 MACs in no-SIMD contexts. The arm64 Poly1305 glue code calls SIMD-backed functions without checking may_use_simd(), so calls made while SIMD registers are unavailable can overwrite unrelated tasks' registers or return a wrong authenticator. Reachability requires local low-privileged execution on arm64 and a kernel path that invokes Poly1305 while SIMD use is prohibited; the documented consequences are register corruption and incorrect MAC computation.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-39804
- Published
- Sep 15, 2025
- Updated
- Aug 5, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- Unavailable
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 15, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 5, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
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- Affected versionversion=6.16
- Affected versionversion=a59e5468a921937cb7317892779c67046ad9f5cc <eec76ea5a7213c48529a46eed1b343e5cee3aaab
- Affected versionversion=a59e5468a921937cb7317892779c67046ad9f5cc <ef74efa598b7bbc5c24509f7f56af2806f81c339
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Attacks
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Technologies
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