CVE-2025-40097 ALSA: hda: Fix missing pointer check in hda_component_manager_init function
A missing pointer check in the Linux kernel ALSA HDA driver can cause a null pointer dereference, leading to a system crash.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2025-40097?
CVE-2025-40097 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 30 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:
ALSA: hda: Fix missing pointer check in hda_component_manager_init function
The __component_match_add function may assign the 'matchptr' pointer the value ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM), which will subsequently be dereferenced.
The call stack leading to the error looks like this:
hda_component_manager_init |-> component_match_add |-> component_match_add_release |-> __component_match_add ( ... ,**matchptr, ... ) |-> *matchptr = ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM); // assign |-> component_master_add_with_match( ... match) |-> component_match_realloc(match, match->num); // dereference
Add IS_ERR() check to prevent the crash.
Found by Linux Verification Center (linuxtesting.org) with SVACE.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-40097?
How do I fix CVE-2025-40097?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2025-40097 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-40097 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2025-40097, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-40097, GHSA-9cqx-9fcv-mjx8, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-40097, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2025-40097, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-40097 and 2 more.