Kernel-memory leak via concurrent slot writes
Published Oct 4, 2025 · Updated Oct 4, 2025
Race condition in the Linux zram driver allows local users to exhaust kernel memory by issuing concurrent writes to one slot. The write path frees the existing zsmalloc handle before compression, then installs a replacement under a separate slot-lock scope, allowing one concurrent replacement handle to be lost. Local low-privileged access and an active zram device are required; repeated races leak kernel allocations and can interrupt system availability.
Summary
What happened
Race condition in the Linux zram driver allows local users to exhaust kernel memory by issuing concurrent writes to one slot. The write path frees the existing zsmalloc handle before compression, then installs a replacement under a separate slot-lock scope, allowing one concurrent replacement handle to be lost. Local low-privileged access and an active zram device are required; repeated races leak kernel allocations and can interrupt system availability.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-39941
- Published
- Oct 4, 2025
- Updated
- Oct 4, 2025
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-362, T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Oct 4, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Oct 4, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
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- Affected versionversion=6.14
- Affected versionversion=71268035f5d734ad6373d953298bd5779985497a <ce4be9e4307c5a60701ff6e0cafa74caffdc54ce
- Affected versionversion=71268035f5d734ad6373d953298bd5779985497a <ff750e9f2c4d63854c33967d1646b5e89a9a19a2
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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Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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