CVE-2025-40338

System crash via shared component-name pointer

Published Dec 9, 2025 · Updated May 11, 2026

Use-after-free in the Intel AVS ASoC PCM component in Linux 5.19 through 6.17.7 allows local users to crash or corrupt the system. The avs_soc_component_register path assigns the same name pointer to multiple audio components, so teardown frees memory that another component still references. Exploitation requires local high-privileged access, Intel audio hardware using the AVS driver, and timing around audio initialization or teardown.

CVSS severity5.7
Medium
EPSS probability0.21%
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 the Intel AVS ASoC PCM component in Linux 5.19 through 6.17.7 allows local users to crash or corrupt the system. The avs_soc_component_register path assigns the same name pointer to multiple audio components, so teardown frees memory that another component still references. Exploitation requires local high-privileged access, Intel audio hardware using the AVS driver, and timing around audio initialization or teardown.

The record

CVE
CVE-2025-40338
Published
Dec 9, 2025
Updated
May 11, 2026
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
T1068
Attack vector
local
Privileges
admin

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Dec 9, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. 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.

  1. Affected versionversion=5.19
  2. Affected versionversion=f1b3b320bd6519b16e3480f74f2926d106e3bcba <128bf29c992988f8b4f3829227339908fde5ec86
  3. Affected versionversion=f1b3b320bd6519b16e3480f74f2926d106e3bcba <4dee5c1cc439b0d5ef87f741518268ad6a95b23d

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesadmin

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=5.19; version=f1b3b320bd6519b16e3480f74f2926d106e3bcba <128bf29c992988f8b4f3829227339908fde5ec86; version=f1b3b320bd6519b16e3480f74f2926d106e3bcba <4dee5c1cc439b0d5ef87f741518268ad6a95b23d

Published CVSS scores

5.7SUSECVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:H/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
5.2SUSECVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/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.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesadmin
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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