# CVE-2025-39895: sched: Fix sched_numa_find_nth_cpu() if mask offline

> A null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel scheduler can cause a system crash when all CPUs in a specific mask are offline.

- **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:** 1 Oct 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-68004, BELL-CVE-2025-39895, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-39895, GHSA-9jx9-x9pr-p7x4, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-39895, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-39895

## What is CVE-2025-39895?

CVE-2025-39895 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 1 Oct 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:

sched: Fix sched_numa_find_nth_cpu() if mask offline

sched_numa_find_nth_cpu() uses a bsearch to look for the 'closest'
CPU in sched_domains_numa_masks and given cpus mask. However they
might not intersect if all CPUs in the cpus mask are offline. bsearch
will return NULL in that case, bail out instead of dereferencing a
bogus pointer.

The previous behaviour lead to this bug when using maxcpus=4 on an
rk3399 (LLLLbb) (i.e. booting with all big CPUs offline):

[    1.422922] Unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address ffffff8000000000
[    1.423635] Mem abort info:
[    1.423889]   ESR = 0x0000000096000006
[    1.424227]   EC = 0x25: DABT (current EL), IL = 32 bits
[    1.424715]   SET = 0, FnV = 0
[    1.424995]   EA = 0, S1PTW = 0
[    1.425279]   FSC = 0x06: level 2 translation fault
[    1.425735] Data abort info:
[    1.425998]   ISV = 0, ISS = 0x00000006, ISS2 = 0x00000000
[    1.426499]   CM = 0, WnR = 0, TnD = 0, TagAccess = 0
[    1.426952]   GCS = 0, Overlay = 0, DirtyBit = 0, Xs = 0
[    1.427428] swapper pgtable: 4k pages, 39-bit VAs, pgdp=0000000004a9f000
[    1.428038] [ffffff8000000000] pgd=18000000f7fff403, p4d=18000000f7fff403, pud=18000000f7fff403, pmd=0000000000000000
[    1.429014] Internal error: Oops: 0000000096000006 [#1]  SMP
[    1.429525] Modules linked in:
[    1.429813] CPU: 3 UID: 0 PID: 1 Comm: swapper/0 Not tainted 6.17.0-rc4-dirty #343 PREEMPT
[    1.430559] Hardware name: Pine64 RockPro64 v2.1 (DT)
[    1.431012] pstate: 60000005 (nZCv daif -PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--)
[    1.431634] pc : sched_numa_find_nth_cpu+0x2a0/0x488
[    1.432094] lr : sched_numa_find_nth_cpu+0x284/0x488
[    1.432543] sp : ffffffc084e1b960
[    1.432843] x29: ffffffc084e1b960 x28: ffffff80078a8800 x27: ffffffc0846eb1d0
[    1.433495] x26: 0000000000000000 x25: 0000000000000000 x24: 0000000000000000
[    1.434144] x23: 0000000000000000 x22: fffffffffff7f093 x21: ffffffc081de6378
[    1.434792] x20: 0000000000000000 x19: 0000000ffff7f093 x18: 00000000ffffffff
[    1.435441] x17: 3030303866666666 x16: 66663d736b73616d x15: ffffffc104e1b5b7
[    1.436091] x14: 0000000000000000 x13: ffffffc084712860 x12: 0000000000000372
[    1.436739] x11: 0000000000000126 x10: ffffffc08476a860 x9 : ffffffc084712860
[    1.437389] x8 : 00000000ffffefff x7 : ffffffc08476a860 x6 : 0000000000000000
[    1.438036] x5 : 000000000000bff4 x4 : 0000000000000000 x3 : 0000000000000000
[    1.438683] x2 : 0000000000000000 x1 : ffffffc0846eb000 x0 : ffffff8000407b68
[    1.439332] Call trace:
[    1.439559]  sched_numa_find_nth_cpu+0x2a0/0x488 (P)
[    1.440016]  smp_call_function_any+0xc8/0xd0
[    1.440416]  armv8_pmu_init+0x58/0x27c
[    1.440770]  armv8_cortex_a72_pmu_init+0x20/0x2c
[    1.441199]  arm_pmu_device_probe+0x1e4/0x5e8
[    1.441603]  armv8_pmu_device_probe+0x1c/0x28
[    1.442007]  platform_probe+0x5c/0xac
[    1.442347]  really_probe+0xbc/0x298
[    1.442683]  __driver_probe_device+0x78/0x12c
[    1.443087]  driver_probe_device+0xdc/0x160
[    1.443475]  __driver_attach+0x94/0x19c
[    1.443833]  bus_for_each_dev+0x74/0xd4
[    1.444190]  driver_attach+0x24/0x30
[    1.444525]  bus_add_driver+0xe4/0x208
[    1.444874]  driver_register+0x60/0x128
[    1.445233]  __platform_driver_register+0x24/0x30
[    1.445662]  armv8_pmu_driver_init+0x28/0x4c
[    1.446059]  do_one_initcall+0x44/0x25c
[    1.446416]  kernel_init_freeable+0x1dc/0x3bc
[    1.446820]  kernel_init+0x20/0x1d8
[    1.447151]  ret_from_fork+0x10/0x20
[    1.447493] Code: 90022e21 f000e5f5 910de2b5 2a1703e2 (f8767803)
[    1.448040] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---
[    1.448483] note: swapper/0[1] exited with preempt_count 1
[    1.449047] Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init! exitcode=0x0000000b
[    1.449741] SMP: stopping secondary CPUs
[    1.450105] Kernel Offset: disabled
[    1.450419] CPU features: 0x000000,00080000,20002001,0400421b
[    
---truncated---

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-39895?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-39895?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-39895 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-39895 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-2025-39895 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-39895 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 1 Oct 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-2025-39895 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-2025-39895/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-39895/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-39895
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-39895
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-39895

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-39895/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.
