Local privilege escalation via stale net_device reference
Published Oct 28, 2025 · Updated Oct 28, 2025
Use-after-free in Linux kernel SMC networking code 4.19 through 6.17.2 allows local users to corrupt kernel memory during connect. smc_pnet_find_ism_resource and smc_pnet_find_roce_resource pass a destination net_device to __pnet_find_base_ndev without retaining it, so concurrent device teardown frees it before dereference. An unprivileged local user can control the race from a user and network namespace, enabling kernel memory disclosure or corruption, privilege escalation, or a kernel panic.
Summary
What happened
Use-after-free in Linux kernel SMC networking code 4.19 through 6.17.2 allows local users to corrupt kernel memory during connect. smc_pnet_find_ism_resource and smc_pnet_find_roce_resource pass a destination net_device to __pnet_find_base_ndev without retaining it, so concurrent device teardown frees it before dereference. An unprivileged local user can control the race from a user and network namespace, enabling kernel memory disclosure or corruption, privilege escalation, or a kernel panic.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-40064
- Published
- Oct 28, 2025
- Updated
- Oct 28, 2025
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Oct 28, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Oct 28, 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=0afff91c6f5ecef27715ea71e34dc2baacba1060 <233927b645cb7a14bb98d23ac72e4c7243a9f0d9
- Affected versionversion=0afff91c6f5ecef27715ea71e34dc2baacba1060 <3d3466878afd8d43ec0ca2facfbc7f03e40d0f79
- Affected versionversion=4.19
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What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
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Technologies
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Your stack
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