# CVE-2025-40147: blk-throttle: fix access race during throttle policy activation

> A race condition in the Linux kernel's block throttle policy can cause a NULL pointer dereference and system crash during early initialization.

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 12 Nov 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2025-40147, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-40147, GHSA-j92p-7382-5wph, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2025-40147, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40147

## What is CVE-2025-40147?

CVE-2025-40147 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 12 Nov 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:

blk-throttle: fix access race during throttle policy activation

On repeated cold boots we occasionally hit a NULL pointer crash in
blk_should_throtl() when throttling is consulted before the throttle
policy is fully enabled for the queue. Checking only q->td != NULL is
insufficient during early initialization, so blkg_to_pd() for the
throttle policy can still return NULL and blkg_to_tg() becomes NULL,
which later gets dereferenced.

 Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference
 at virtual address 0000000000000156
 ...
 pc : submit_bio_noacct+0x14c/0x4c8
 lr : submit_bio_noacct+0x48/0x4c8
 sp : ffff800087f0b690
 x29: ffff800087f0b690 x28: 0000000000005f90 x27: ffff00068af393c0
 x26: 0000000000080000 x25: 000000000002fbc0 x24: ffff000684ddcc70
 x23: 0000000000000000 x22: 0000000000000000 x21: 0000000000000000
 x20: 0000000000080000 x19: ffff000684ddcd08 x18: ffffffffffffffff
 x17: 0000000000000000 x16: ffff80008132a550 x15: 0000ffff98020fff
 x14: 0000000000000000 x13: 1fffe000d11d7021 x12: ffff000688eb810c
 x11: ffff00077ec4bb80 x10: ffff000688dcb720 x9 : ffff80008068ef60
 x8 : 00000a6fb8a86e85 x7 : 000000000000111e x6 : 0000000000000002
 x5 : 0000000000000246 x4 : 0000000000015cff x3 : 0000000000394500
 x2 : ffff000682e35e40 x1 : 0000000000364940 x0 : 000000000000001a
 Call trace:
  submit_bio_noacct+0x14c/0x4c8
  verity_map+0x178/0x2c8
  __map_bio+0x228/0x250
  dm_submit_bio+0x1c4/0x678
  __submit_bio+0x170/0x230
  submit_bio_noacct_nocheck+0x16c/0x388
  submit_bio_noacct+0x16c/0x4c8
  submit_bio+0xb4/0x210
  f2fs_submit_read_bio+0x4c/0xf0
  f2fs_mpage_readpages+0x3b0/0x5f0
  f2fs_readahead+0x90/0xe8

Tighten blk_throtl_activated() to also require that the throttle policy
bit is set on the queue:

  return q->td != NULL &&
         test_bit(blkcg_policy_throtl.plid, q->blkcg_pols);

This prevents blk_should_throtl() from accessing throttle group state
until policy data has been attached to blkgs.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-40147?


## How do I fix CVE-2025-40147?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-40147 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-40147 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-40147 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-40147 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 12 Nov 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-2025-40147 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux. 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-2025-40147/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-40147/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-40147
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-40147
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-40147

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-40147/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.