CVE-2025-40009 fs/proc/task_mmu: check p->vec_buf for NULL

Not scored Published 20 Oct 2025 Updated 11 May 2026

A local attacker can trigger a kernel panic via a specific ioctl call, causing a 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-2025-40009?

CVE-2025-40009 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 20 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:

fs/proc/task_mmu: check p->vec_buf for NULL

When the PAGEMAP_SCAN ioctl is invoked with vec_len = 0 reaches pagemap_scan_backout_range(), kernel panics with null-ptr-deref:

[ 44.936808] Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc0000000000: 0000 [#1] SMP DEBUG_PAGEALLOC KASAN NOPTI [ 44.937797] KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000000-0x0000000000000007] [ 44.938391] CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 2480 Comm: reproducer Not tainted 6.17.0-rc6 #22 PREEMPT(none) [ 44.939062] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.16.3-0-ga6ed6b701f0a-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 [ 44.939935] RIP: 0010:pagemap_scan_thp_entry.isra.0+0x741/0xa80

[ 44.946828] Call Trace: [ 44.947030] <TASK> [ 44.949219] pagemap_scan_pmd_entry+0xec/0xfa0 [ 44.952593] walk_pmd_range.isra.0+0x302/0x910 [ 44.954069] walk_pud_range.isra.0+0x419/0x790 [ 44.954427] walk_p4d_range+0x41e/0x620 [ 44.954743] walk_pgd_range+0x31e/0x630 [ 44.955057] __walk_page_range+0x160/0x670 [ 44.956883] walk_page_range_mm+0x408/0x980 [ 44.958677] walk_page_range+0x66/0x90 [ 44.958984] do_pagemap_scan+0x28d/0x9c0 [ 44.961833] do_pagemap_cmd+0x59/0x80 [ 44.962484] __x64_sys_ioctl+0x18d/0x210 [ 44.962804] do_syscall_64+0x5b/0x290 [ 44.963111] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e

vec_len = 0 in pagemap_scan_init_bounce_buffer() means no buffers are allocated and p->vec_buf remains set to NULL.

This breaks an assumption made later in pagemap_scan_backout_range(), that page_region is always allocated for p->vec_buf_index.

Fix it by explicitly checking p->vec_buf for NULL before dereferencing.

Other sites that might run into same deref-issue are already (directly or transitively) protected by checking p->vec_buf.

Note: From PAGEMAP_SCAN man page, it seems vec_len = 0 is valid when no output is requested and it's only the side effects caller is interested in, hence it passes check in pagemap_scan_get_args().

This issue was found by syzkaller.

Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-40009?

How do I fix CVE-2025-40009?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2025-40009 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-40009 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Sources

Also known as BELL-CVE-2025-40009, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-40009, GHSA-cmvf-g3gj-cgc9, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2025-40009, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-40009, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40009.