Vulnerability-Lookup

CVE-2025-40159 (GCVE-0-2025-40159)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2025-11-12 10:24 – Updated: 2026-08-05 12:08

Title

xsk: Harden userspace-supplied xdp_desc validation

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: xsk: Harden userspace-supplied xdp_desc validation Turned out certain clearly invalid values passed in xdp_desc from userspace can pass xp_{,un}aligned_validate_desc() and then lead to UBs or just invalid frames to be queued for xmit. desc->len close to ``U32_MAX`` with a non-zero pool->tx_metadata_len can cause positive integer overflow and wraparound, the same way low enough desc->addr with a non-zero pool->tx_metadata_len can cause negative integer overflow. Both scenarios can then pass the validation successfully. This doesn't happen with valid XSk applications, but can be used to perform attacks. Always promote desc->len to ``u64`` first to exclude positive overflows of it. Use explicit check_{add,sub}_overflow() when validating desc->addr (which is ``u64`` already). bloat-o-meter reports a little growth of the code size: add/remove: 0/0 grow/shrink: 2/1 up/down: 60/-16 (44) Function old new delta xskq_cons_peek_desc 299 330 +31 xsk_tx_peek_release_desc_batch 973 1002 +29 xsk_generic_xmit 3148 3132 -16 but hopefully this doesn't hurt the performance much.

Severity

7.8 (High)


                        
                          CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Assigner

Linux mitre root

References

3 references

URL	Tags
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1463cd066f32efd56…
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5b5fffa7c81e55d8c…
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/07ca98f906a403637…

Impacted products

2 products

Vendor	Product	Version	CPE status
Linux	Linux	Affected: 341ac980eab90ac1f6c22ee9f9da83ed9604d899 , < 1463cd066f32efd56ddfd3ac4e3524200f362980 (git) Affected: 341ac980eab90ac1f6c22ee9f9da83ed9604d899 , < 5b5fffa7c81e55d8c8edf05ad40d811ec7047e21 (git) Affected: 341ac980eab90ac1f6c22ee9f9da83ed9604d899 , < 07ca98f906a403637fc5e513a872a50ef1247f3b (git)	guessed
Linux	Linux	Affected: 6.8 Unaffected: 0 , < 6.8 (semver) Unaffected: 6.12.54 , ≤ 6.12.* (semver) Unaffected: 6.17.4 , ≤ 6.17.* (semver) Unaffected: 6.18 , ≤ * (original_commit_for_fix)	guessed

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{
  "containers": {
    "cna": {
      "affected": [
        {
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "product": "Linux",
          "programFiles": [
            "net/xdp/xsk_queue.h"
          ],
          "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
          "vendor": "Linux",
          "versions": [
            {
              "lessThan": "1463cd066f32efd56ddfd3ac4e3524200f362980",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "341ac980eab90ac1f6c22ee9f9da83ed9604d899",
              "versionType": "git"
            },
            {
              "lessThan": "5b5fffa7c81e55d8c8edf05ad40d811ec7047e21",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "341ac980eab90ac1f6c22ee9f9da83ed9604d899",
              "versionType": "git"
            },
            {
              "lessThan": "07ca98f906a403637fc5e513a872a50ef1247f3b",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "341ac980eab90ac1f6c22ee9f9da83ed9604d899",
              "versionType": "git"
            }
          ]
        },
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          "defaultStatus": "affected",
          "product": "Linux",
          "programFiles": [
            "net/xdp/xsk_queue.h"
          ],
          "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
          "vendor": "Linux",
          "versions": [
            {
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "6.8"
            },
            {
              "lessThan": "6.8",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "0",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "6.12.*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "6.12.54",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "6.17.*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "6.17.4",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "6.18",
              "versionType": "original_commit_for_fix"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "cpeApplicability": [
        {
          "nodes": [
            {
              "cpeMatch": [
                {
                  "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                  "versionEndExcluding": "6.12.54",
                  "versionStartIncluding": "6.8",
                  "vulnerable": true
                },
                {
                  "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                  "versionEndExcluding": "6.17.4",
                  "versionStartIncluding": "6.8",
                  "vulnerable": true
                },
                {
                  "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                  "versionEndExcluding": "6.18",
                  "versionStartIncluding": "6.8",
                  "vulnerable": true
                }
              ],
              "negate": false,
              "operator": "OR"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "descriptions": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nxsk: Harden userspace-supplied xdp_desc validation\n\nTurned out certain clearly invalid values passed in xdp_desc from\nuserspace can pass xp_{,un}aligned_validate_desc() and then lead\nto UBs or just invalid frames to be queued for xmit.\n\ndesc-\u003elen close to ``U32_MAX`` with a non-zero pool-\u003etx_metadata_len\ncan cause positive integer overflow and wraparound, the same way low\nenough desc-\u003eaddr with a non-zero pool-\u003etx_metadata_len can cause\nnegative integer overflow. Both scenarios can then pass the\nvalidation successfully.\nThis doesn\u0027t happen with valid XSk applications, but can be used\nto perform attacks.\n\nAlways promote desc-\u003elen to ``u64`` first to exclude positive\noverflows of it. Use explicit check_{add,sub}_overflow() when\nvalidating desc-\u003eaddr (which is ``u64`` already).\n\nbloat-o-meter reports a little growth of the code size:\n\nadd/remove: 0/0 grow/shrink: 2/1 up/down: 60/-16 (44)\nFunction                                     old     new   delta\nxskq_cons_peek_desc                          299     330     +31\nxsk_tx_peek_release_desc_batch               973    1002     +29\nxsk_generic_xmit                            3148    3132     -16\n\nbut hopefully this doesn\u0027t hurt the performance much."
        }
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "cvssV3_1": {
            "baseScore": 7.8,
            "baseSeverity": "HIGH",
            "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
            "version": "3.1"
          },
          "scenarios": [
            {
              "lang": "en",
              "value": "AV:L - The malicious xdp_desc values are written by a local process into its own mmap\u0027d AF_XDP TX ring and triggered via sendto()/sendmsg(); this is a local syscall interface, not remote network data processing.\nAC:L - The attacker fully controls desc-\u003eaddr, desc-\u003elen, desc-\u003eoptions, and pool-\u003etx_metadata_len, so the overflow is triggered deterministically with no race or external condition.\nPR:L - AF_XDP socket creation only requires CAP_NET_RAW in the socket\u0027s user namespace, which an unprivileged user obtains via `unshare -Urn`; no real root is needed.\nUI:N - The attacking process performs socket setup, descriptor crafting, and transmission entirely on its own; no other user\u0027s interaction is required.\nS:U - The overflow corrupts kernel memory within the same kernel security authority; there is no crossing of a VM/IOMMU/sandbox boundary.\nC:H - The bypassed length validation causes an out-of-bounds read of up to ~4GB from kernel memory adjacent to the umem buffer, which is copied into transmitted skb data \u2014 an arbitrary kernel memory disclosure primitive.\nI:H - The invalid len/addr drive get_page() on arbitrary \"struct page\" pointers past the pages array and queue corrupted frames, providing a heap/memory-corruption primitive exploitable beyond a mere crash.\nA:H - Out-of-bounds access to the pages array and refcounting of garbage pointers reliably oops/panics the kernel."
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "providerMetadata": {
        "dateUpdated": "2026-08-05T12:08:09.151Z",
        "orgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
        "shortName": "Linux"
      },
      "references": [
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1463cd066f32efd56ddfd3ac4e3524200f362980"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5b5fffa7c81e55d8c8edf05ad40d811ec7047e21"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/07ca98f906a403637fc5e513a872a50ef1247f3b"
        }
      ],
      "title": "xsk: Harden userspace-supplied xdp_desc validation",
      "x_generator": {
        "engine": "bippy-1.2.0"
      }
    }
  },
  "cveMetadata": {
    "assignerOrgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
    "assignerShortName": "Linux",
    "cveId": "CVE-2025-40159",
    "datePublished": "2025-11-12T10:24:36.104Z",
    "dateReserved": "2025-04-16T07:20:57.176Z",
    "dateUpdated": "2026-08-05T12:08:09.151Z",
    "state": "PUBLISHED"
  },
  "dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
  "dataVersion": "5.2",
  "vulnerability-lookup:meta": {
    "epss": {
      "cve": "CVE-2025-40159",
      "date": "2026-09-16",
      "epss": "0.00142",
      "percentile": "0.0388"
    },
    "nvd": "{\"cve\":{\"id\":\"CVE-2025-40159\",\"sourceIdentifier\":\"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67\",\"published\":\"2025-11-12T11:15:46.000\",\"lastModified\":\"2026-07-30T06:24:14.513\",\"vulnStatus\":\"Deferred\",\"cveTags\":[],\"descriptions\":[{\"lang\":\"en\",\"value\":\"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\\n\\nxsk: Harden userspace-supplied xdp_desc validation\\n\\nTurned out certain clearly invalid values passed in xdp_desc from\\nuserspace can pass xp_{,un}aligned_validate_desc() and then lead\\nto UBs or just invalid frames to be queued for xmit.\\n\\ndesc-\u003elen close to ``U32_MAX`` with a non-zero pool-\u003etx_metadata_len\\ncan cause positive integer overflow and wraparound, the same way low\\nenough desc-\u003eaddr with a non-zero pool-\u003etx_metadata_len can cause\\nnegative integer overflow. Both scenarios can then pass the\\nvalidation successfully.\\nThis doesn\u0027t happen with valid XSk applications, but can be used\\nto perform attacks.\\n\\nAlways promote desc-\u003elen to ``u64`` first to exclude positive\\noverflows of it. Use explicit check_{add,sub}_overflow() when\\nvalidating desc-\u003eaddr (which is ``u64`` already).\\n\\nbloat-o-meter reports a little growth of the code size:\\n\\nadd/remove: 0/0 grow/shrink: 2/1 up/down: 60/-16 (44)\\nFunction                                     old     new   delta\\nxskq_cons_peek_desc                          299     330     +31\\nxsk_tx_peek_release_desc_batch               973    1002     +29\\nxsk_generic_xmit                            3148    3132     -16\\n\\nbut hopefully this doesn\u0027t hurt the performance much.\"}],\"affected\":[{\"source\":\"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67\",\"affectedData\":[{\"vendor\":\"Linux\",\"product\":\"Linux\",\"defaultStatus\":\"unaffected\",\"programFiles\":[\"net/xdp/xsk_queue.h\"],\"repo\":\"https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git\",\"versions\":[{\"version\":\"341ac980eab90ac1f6c22ee9f9da83ed9604d899\",\"lessThan\":\"1463cd066f32efd56ddfd3ac4e3524200f362980\",\"versionType\":\"git\",\"status\":\"affected\"},{\"version\":\"341ac980eab90ac1f6c22ee9f9da83ed9604d899\",\"lessThan\":\"5b5fffa7c81e55d8c8edf05ad40d811ec7047e21\",\"versionType\":\"git\",\"status\":\"affected\"},{\"version\":\"341ac980eab90ac1f6c22ee9f9da83ed9604d899\",\"lessThan\":\"07ca98f906a403637fc5e513a872a50ef1247f3b\",\"versionType\":\"git\",\"status\":\"affected\"}]},{\"vendor\":\"Linux\",\"product\":\"Linux\",\"defaultStatus\":\"affected\",\"programFiles\":[\"net/xdp/xsk_queue.h\"],\"repo\":\"https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git\",\"versions\":[{\"version\":\"6.8\",\"status\":\"affected\"},{\"version\":\"0\",\"lessThan\":\"6.8\",\"versionType\":\"semver\",\"status\":\"unaffected\"},{\"version\":\"6.12.54\",\"lessThanOrEqual\":\"6.12.*\",\"versionType\":\"semver\",\"status\":\"unaffected\"},{\"version\":\"6.17.4\",\"lessThanOrEqual\":\"6.17.*\",\"versionType\":\"semver\",\"status\":\"unaffected\"},{\"version\":\"6.18\",\"lessThanOrEqual\":\"*\",\"versionType\":\"original_commit_for_fix\",\"status\":\"unaffected\"}]}]}],\"metrics\":{\"cvssMetricV31\":[{\"source\":\"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67\",\"type\":\"Secondary\",\"cvssData\":{\"version\":\"3.1\",\"vectorString\":\"CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H\",\"baseScore\":7.8,\"baseSeverity\":\"HIGH\",\"attackVector\":\"LOCAL\",\"attackComplexity\":\"LOW\",\"privilegesRequired\":\"LOW\",\"userInteraction\":\"NONE\",\"scope\":\"UNCHANGED\",\"confidentialityImpact\":\"HIGH\",\"integrityImpact\":\"HIGH\",\"availabilityImpact\":\"HIGH\"},\"exploitabilityScore\":1.8,\"impactScore\":5.9}]},\"references\":[{\"url\":\"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/07ca98f906a403637fc5e513a872a50ef1247f3b\",\"source\":\"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67\"},{\"url\":\"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1463cd066f32efd56ddfd3ac4e3524200f362980\",\"source\":\"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67\"},{\"url\":\"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5b5fffa7c81e55d8c8edf05ad40d811ec7047e21\",\"source\":\"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67\"}]}}",
    "redhat_vex": {
      "aggregate_severity": "Low",
      "current_release_date": "2026-07-30T10:07:55+00:00",
      "cve": "CVE-2025-40159",
      "id": "CVE-2025-40159",
      "initial_release_date": "2025-11-12T00:00:00+00:00",
      "product_status:known_affected": "184",
      "product_status:known_not_affected": "90",
      "source": "Red Hat CSAF VEX",
      "status": "final",
      "title": "kernel: xsk: Harden userspace-supplied xdp_desc validation",
      "url": "https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2025/cve-2025-40159.json",
      "version": "3"
    }
  }
}

Sightings

Author	Source	Type	Date	Other

Nomenclature

Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.

Detection rules are retrieved from Rulezet.

The MITRE ATT&CK techniques below are AI-generated suggestions, inferred from the description of the vulnerability by the CIRCL/vulnerability-attack-technique-classification-roberta-base model, served locally by ML-Gateway. They have not been verified by an analyst and are provided for guidance only.
The approach is described in our paper Mapping CVEs to MITRE ATT&CK Techniques: A Curated Gold-Set Classifier and the Limits of LLM-Assisted Label Expansion.

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CVE-2025-40159 (GCVE-0-2025-40159)

Tags

Sightings

Nomenclature