# CVE-2025-22092: PCI: Fix NULL dereference in SR-IOV VF creation error path

> A NULL pointer dereference in the Linux kernel PCI subsystem can cause a system crash during SR-IOV virtual function creation errors.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 16 Apr 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2025-22092, GHSA-83jq-f5p9-r6x4, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2025-22092, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-22092

## What is CVE-2025-22092?

CVE-2025-22092 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 16 Apr 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

PCI: Fix NULL dereference in SR-IOV VF creation error path

Clean up when virtfn setup fails to prevent NULL pointer dereference
during device removal. The kernel oops below occurred due to incorrect
error handling flow when pci_setup_device() fails.

Add pci_iov_scan_device(), which handles virtfn allocation and setup and
cleans up if pci_setup_device() fails, so pci_iov_add_virtfn() doesn't need
to call pci_stop_and_remove_bus_device().  This prevents accessing
partially initialized virtfn devices during removal.

  BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 00000000000000d0
  RIP: 0010:device_del+0x3d/0x3d0
  Call Trace:
   pci_remove_bus_device+0x7c/0x100
   pci_iov_add_virtfn+0xfa/0x200
   sriov_enable+0x208/0x420
   mlx5_core_sriov_configure+0x6a/0x160 [mlx5_core]
   sriov_numvfs_store+0xae/0x1a0

[bhelgaas: commit log, return ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM) directly]

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-22092?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-22092?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-22092 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-22092 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-22092 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-22092 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 16 Apr 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-22092 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-22092/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-22092/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-22092
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-22092
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-22092

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-22092/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.