CVE-2025-40092

Local privilege escalation via stale NCM request

Published Oct 30, 2025 · Updated Aug 5, 2026

Use-after-free in USB NCM gadget binding in affected Linux kernel releases allows local users to crash the kernel or gain privileges. After a bind/unbind cycle, ncm_bind leaves ncm->notify_req stale, and its shared error path frees that old request when the next bind fails. The path requires write access to USB gadget configfs and can cause a repeatable kernel panic or heap corruption enabling kernel memory disclosure or modification.

CVSS severity7.8
High
EPSS probability0.14%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Use-after-free in USB NCM gadget binding in affected Linux kernel releases allows local users to crash the kernel or gain privileges. After a bind/unbind cycle, ncm_bind leaves ncm->notify_req stale, and its shared error path frees that old request when the next bind fails. The path requires write access to USB gadget configfs and can cause a repeatable kernel panic or heap corruption enabling kernel memory disclosure or modification.

The record

CVE
CVE-2025-40092
Published
Oct 30, 2025
Updated
Aug 5, 2026
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
T1068
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Oct 30, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 5, 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.

  1. Affected versionversion=2.6.38
  2. Affected versionversion=9f6ce4240a2bf456402c15c06768059e5973f28c <185193a4714aa9c78437a7a1858fbe5771f0f45c
  3. Affected versionversion=9f6ce4240a2bf456402c15c06768059e5973f28c <1cde4516295a030cb8ab4c93114ca3b6c3c6a1e2
  4. Affected versionversion=9f6ce4240a2bf456402c15c06768059e5973f28c <75a5b8d4ddd4eb6b16cb0b475d14ff4ae64295ef
  5. Affected versionversion=9f6ce4240a2bf456402c15c06768059e5973f28c <d3fe7143928d8dfa2ec7bac9f906b48bc75b98ee
  6. Affected versionversion=9f6ce4240a2bf456402c15c06768059e5973f28c <ed78f4d6079d872432b1ed54f155ef61965d3137
  7. Affected versionversion=9f6ce4240a2bf456402c15c06768059e5973f28c <f37de8dec6a4c379b4b8486003a1de00ff8cff3b

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=2.6.38; version=9f6ce4240a2bf456402c15c06768059e5973f28c <185193a4714aa9c78437a7a1858fbe5771f0f45c; version=9f6ce4240a2bf456402c15c06768059e5973f28c <1cde4516295a030cb8ab4c93114ca3b6c3c6a1e2; version=9f6ce4240a2bf456402c15c06768059e5973f28c <75a5b8d4ddd4eb6b16cb0b475d14ff4ae64295ef; version=9f6ce4240a2bf456402c15c06768059e5973f28c <d3fe7143928d8dfa2ec7bac9f906b48bc75b98ee; version=9f6ce4240a2bf456402c15c06768059e5973f28c <ed78f4d6079d872432b1ed54f155ef61965d3137; version=9f6ce4240a2bf456402c15c06768059e5973f28c <f37de8dec6a4c379b4b8486003a1de00ff8cff3b

Published CVSS scores

7.8kernel.orgCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

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.

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No observations available

Sep 9, 2026Sep 15, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 15, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

T1068Exploitation for Privilege Escalation

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

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Your stack

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