CVE-2025-39830 net/mlx5: HWS, Fix memory leak in hws_pool_buddy_init error path

Medium 5.5 Published Updated

A memory leak in the Linux kernel's mlx5 network driver error path can lead to resource exhaustion and denial of service.

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

What is CVE-2025-39830?

CVE-2025-39830 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 16 Sep 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:

net/mlx5: HWS, Fix memory leak in hws_pool_buddy_init error path

In the error path of hws_pool_buddy_init(), the buddy allocator cleanup doesn't free the allocator structure itself, causing a memory leak.

Add the missing kfree() to properly release all allocated memory.

Weakness: CWE-401

Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-39830?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2025-39830?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.

Is CVE-2025-39830 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-39830 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as BELL-CVE-2025-39830, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-39830, GHSA-h4gm-c37q-gjjr, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2025-39830, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-39830.

Is CVE-2025-39830 in your software?

Upload an SBOM and sbomify checks it against every vulnerability here, every day.

Check your SBOMs for free