# CVE-2025-39852: net/tcp: Fix socket memory leak in TCP-AO failure handling for IPv6

> A memory leak in the Linux kernel's TCP-AO IPv6 handling allows remote attackers to cause denial of service by exhausting kernel memory.

- **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:** 19 Sep 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2025-39852, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-39852, GHSA-774g-c8xq-c2v2, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2025-39852, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-39852, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-39852

## What is CVE-2025-39852?

CVE-2025-39852 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 19 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/tcp: Fix socket memory leak in TCP-AO failure handling for IPv6

When tcp_ao_copy_all_matching() fails in tcp_v6_syn_recv_sock() it just
exits the function. This ends up causing a memory-leak:

unreferenced object 0xffff0000281a8200 (size 2496):
  comm "softirq", pid 0, jiffies 4295174684
  hex dump (first 32 bytes):
    7f 00 00 06 7f 00 00 06 00 00 00 00 cb a8 88 13  ................
    0a 00 03 61 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ...a............
  backtrace (crc 5ebdbe15):
    kmemleak_alloc+0x44/0xe0
    kmem_cache_alloc_noprof+0x248/0x470
    sk_prot_alloc+0x48/0x120
    sk_clone_lock+0x38/0x3b0
    inet_csk_clone_lock+0x34/0x150
    tcp_create_openreq_child+0x3c/0x4a8
    tcp_v6_syn_recv_sock+0x1c0/0x620
    tcp_check_req+0x588/0x790
    tcp_v6_rcv+0x5d0/0xc18
    ip6_protocol_deliver_rcu+0x2d8/0x4c0
    ip6_input_finish+0x74/0x148
    ip6_input+0x50/0x118
    ip6_sublist_rcv+0x2fc/0x3b0
    ipv6_list_rcv+0x114/0x170
    __netif_receive_skb_list_core+0x16c/0x200
    netif_receive_skb_list_internal+0x1f0/0x2d0

This is because in tcp_v6_syn_recv_sock (and the IPv4 counterpart), when
exiting upon error, inet_csk_prepare_forced_close() and tcp_done() need
to be called. They make sure the newsk will end up being correctly
free'd.

tcp_v4_syn_recv_sock() makes this very clear by having the put_and_exit
label that takes care of things. So, this patch here makes sure
tcp_v4_syn_recv_sock and tcp_v6_syn_recv_sock have similar
error-handling and thus fixes the leak for TCP-AO.

Weakness: CWE-401 (Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-39852?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-39852?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-39852 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-39852 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-2025-39852 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-39852 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 19 Sep 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-2025-39852 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-2025-39852/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-39852/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-39852
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-39852
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-39852

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-39852/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.