Local system crash via deferred-probe error pointer
Published Nov 12, 2025 · Updated May 11, 2026
Error-pointer dereference in the Linux kernel allows local users to crash the system during MediaTek CCI devfreq device probing. The mtk-cci probe path treats ERR_PTR(-EPROBE_DEFER) in drv->sram_reg as usable because it checks only for NULL, then dereferences the encoded error pointer. Reachability requires local access and a MediaTek CCI platform whose optional SRAM regulator defers probing; the documented consequence is a kernel crash.
Summary
What happened
Error-pointer dereference in the Linux kernel allows local users to crash the system during MediaTek CCI devfreq device probing. The mtk-cci probe path treats ERR_PTR(-EPROBE_DEFER) in drv->sram_reg as usable because it checks only for NULL, then dereferences the encoded error pointer. Reachability requires local access and a MediaTek CCI platform whose optional SRAM regulator defers probing; the documented consequence is a kernel crash.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-40156
- Published
- Nov 12, 2025
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1529
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Nov 12, 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
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=6.1
- Affected versionversion=e09bd5757b5227d6804b30c58d4587f7f87d1afa <24d61b6e23d2c7291c528dd43a0bf76b5c05c8f0
- Affected versionversion=e09bd5757b5227d6804b30c58d4587f7f87d1afa <44e32104cf7e670e3d683c97b52350d8fac23322
- Affected versionversion=e09bd5757b5227d6804b30c58d4587f7f87d1afa <80eab6a9df7e1107dc334434dbacd05297703377
- Affected versionversion=e09bd5757b5227d6804b30c58d4587f7f87d1afa <9cc23e221f392304b7b8aad213812564ddf6517e
- Affected versionversion=e09bd5757b5227d6804b30c58d4587f7f87d1afa <fc33bf0e097c6834646b98a7b3da0ae5b617f0f9
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.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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