# CVE-2025-39928: i2c: rtl9300: ensure data length is within supported range

> An integer underflow in the RTL9300 I2C driver allows attackers to corrupt hardware EEPROMs, potentially bricking connected devices.

- **Severity:** High 7.1 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/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:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2025-39928, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-39928, GHSA-m43q-hvcx-4pxc, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-39928

## What is CVE-2025-39928?

CVE-2025-39928 is a high-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:

i2c: rtl9300: ensure data length is within supported range

Add an explicit check for the xfer length to 'rtl9300_i2c_config_xfer'
to ensure the data length isn't within the supported range. In
particular a data length of 0 is not supported by the hardware and
causes unintended or destructive behaviour.

This limitation becomes obvious when looking at the register
documentation [1]. 4 bits are reserved for DATA_WIDTH and the value
of these 4 bits is used as N + 1, allowing a data length range of
1 <= len <= 16.

Affected by this is the SMBus Quick Operation which works with a data
length of 0. Passing 0 as the length causes an underflow of the value
due to:

(len - 1) & 0xf

and effectively specifying a transfer length of 16 via the registers.
This causes a 16-byte write operation instead of a Quick Write. For
example, on SFP modules without write-protected EEPROM this soft-bricks
them by overwriting some initial bytes.

For completeness, also add a quirk for the zero length.

[1] https://svanheule.net/realtek/longan/register/i2c_mst1_ctrl2

Weakness: CWE-191 (Integer Underflow (Wrap or Wraparound))

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-39928?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-39928?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-39928 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-39928 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-2025-39928 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-39928 is a high-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-2025-39928 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-2025-39928/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-39928/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-39928
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-39928
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-39928

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-39928/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.