CVE-2025-40185 ice: ice_adapter: release xa entry on adapter allocation failure
A flaw in the Linux kernel ice driver causes NULL pointer dereferences and denial of service when adapter allocation fails due to unreleased XArray entries.
- 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-2025-40185?
CVE-2025-40185 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:
ice: ice_adapter: release xa entry on adapter allocation failure
When ice_adapter_new() fails, the reserved XArray entry created by xa_insert() is not released. This causes subsequent insertions at the same index to return -EBUSY, potentially leading to NULL pointer dereferences.
Reorder the operations as suggested by Przemek Kitszel: 1. Check if adapter already exists (xa_load) 2. Reserve the XArray slot (xa_reserve) 3. Allocate the adapter (ice_adapter_new) 4. Store the adapter (xa_store)
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-40185?
How do I fix CVE-2025-40185?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2025-40185 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-40185 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2025-40185, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-40185, GHSA-x32c-xhpp-98g9, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2025-40185, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40185.