# CVE-2025-40164: usbnet: Fix using smp_processor_id() in preemptible code warnings

> A bug in the Linux kernel's usbnet driver causes a kernel warning and potential instability when setting MTU, leading to denial of service.

- **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:** 12 Nov 2025
- **Updated:** 19 Jun 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-70010, AZL-78392, BELL-CVE-2025-40164, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-40164, GHSA-f2f6-pqf4-6hg9, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2025-40164, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-40164, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2025-40164, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-40164, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-40164, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40164

## What is CVE-2025-40164?

CVE-2025-40164 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, 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:

usbnet: Fix using smp_processor_id() in preemptible code warnings

Syzbot reported the following warning:

BUG: using smp_processor_id() in preemptible [00000000] code: dhcpcd/2879
caller is usbnet_skb_return+0x74/0x490 drivers/net/usb/usbnet.c:331
CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 2879 Comm: dhcpcd Not tainted 6.15.0-rc4-syzkaller-00098-g615dca38c2ea #0 PREEMPT(voluntary)
Call Trace:
 <TASK>
 __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:94 [inline]
 dump_stack_lvl+0x16c/0x1f0 lib/dump_stack.c:120
 check_preemption_disabled+0xd0/0xe0 lib/smp_processor_id.c:49
 usbnet_skb_return+0x74/0x490 drivers/net/usb/usbnet.c:331
 usbnet_resume_rx+0x4b/0x170 drivers/net/usb/usbnet.c:708
 usbnet_change_mtu+0x1be/0x220 drivers/net/usb/usbnet.c:417
 __dev_set_mtu net/core/dev.c:9443 [inline]
 netif_set_mtu_ext+0x369/0x5c0 net/core/dev.c:9496
 netif_set_mtu+0xb0/0x160 net/core/dev.c:9520
 dev_set_mtu+0xae/0x170 net/core/dev_api.c:247
 dev_ifsioc+0xa31/0x18d0 net/core/dev_ioctl.c:572
 dev_ioctl+0x223/0x10e0 net/core/dev_ioctl.c:821
 sock_do_ioctl+0x19d/0x280 net/socket.c:1204
 sock_ioctl+0x42f/0x6a0 net/socket.c:1311
 vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline]
 __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:906 [inline]
 __se_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:892 [inline]
 __x64_sys_ioctl+0x190/0x200 fs/ioctl.c:892
 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline]
 do_syscall_64+0xcd/0x260 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94
 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f

For historical and portability reasons, the netif_rx() is usually
run in the softirq or interrupt context, this commit therefore add
local_bh_disable/enable() protection in the usbnet_resume_rx().

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-40164?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-40164?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-40164 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-40164 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-2025-40164 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-40164 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, 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-2025-40164 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-2025-40164/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-40164/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-40164
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-40164
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-40164

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-40164/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.