# CVE-2025-40274: KVM: guest_memfd: Remove bindings on memslot deletion when gmem is dying

> A use-after-free in Linux KVM guest_memfd allows local attackers to execute arbitrary code or escalate privileges via memslot deletion.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:** 6 Dec 2025
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2025-40274, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-40274, GHSA-h3qw-rx4w-h8fj, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2025-40274, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-40274, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40274

## What is CVE-2025-40274?

CVE-2025-40274 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux, published on 6 Dec 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:

KVM: guest_memfd: Remove bindings on memslot deletion when gmem is dying

When unbinding a memslot from a guest_memfd instance, remove the bindings
even if the guest_memfd file is dying, i.e. even if its file refcount has
gone to zero.  If the memslot is freed before the file is fully released,
nullifying the memslot side of the binding in kvm_gmem_release() will
write to freed memory, as detected by syzbot+KASAN:

  ==================================================================
  BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in kvm_gmem_release+0x176/0x440 virt/kvm/guest_memfd.c:353
  Write of size 8 at addr ffff88807befa508 by task syz.0.17/6022

  CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 6022 Comm: syz.0.17 Not tainted syzkaller #0 PREEMPT(full)
  Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 10/02/2025
  Call Trace:
   <TASK>
   dump_stack_lvl+0x189/0x250 lib/dump_stack.c:120
   print_address_description mm/kasan/report.c:378 [inline]
   print_report+0xca/0x240 mm/kasan/report.c:482
   kasan_report+0x118/0x150 mm/kasan/report.c:595
   kvm_gmem_release+0x176/0x440 virt/kvm/guest_memfd.c:353
   __fput+0x44c/0xa70 fs/file_table.c:468
   task_work_run+0x1d4/0x260 kernel/task_work.c:227
   resume_user_mode_work include/linux/resume_user_mode.h:50 [inline]
   exit_to_user_mode_loop+0xe9/0x130 kernel/entry/common.c:43
   exit_to_user_mode_prepare include/linux/irq-entry-common.h:225 [inline]
   syscall_exit_to_user_mode_work include/linux/entry-common.h:175 [inline]
   syscall_exit_to_user_mode include/linux/entry-common.h:210 [inline]
   do_syscall_64+0x2bd/0xfa0 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:100
   entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f
  RIP: 0033:0x7fbeeff8efc9
   </TASK>

  Allocated by task 6023:
   kasan_save_stack mm/kasan/common.c:56 [inline]
   kasan_save_track+0x3e/0x80 mm/kasan/common.c:77
   poison_kmalloc_redzone mm/kasan/common.c:397 [inline]
   __kasan_kmalloc+0x93/0xb0 mm/kasan/common.c:414
   kasan_kmalloc include/linux/kasan.h:262 [inline]
   __kmalloc_cache_noprof+0x3e2/0x700 mm/slub.c:5758
   kmalloc_noprof include/linux/slab.h:957 [inline]
   kzalloc_noprof include/linux/slab.h:1094 [inline]
   kvm_set_memory_region+0x747/0xb90 virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:2104
   kvm_vm_ioctl_set_memory_region+0x6f/0xd0 virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:2154
   kvm_vm_ioctl+0x957/0xc60 virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:5201
   vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline]
   __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:597 [inline]
   __se_sys_ioctl+0xfc/0x170 fs/ioctl.c:583
   do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline]
   do_syscall_64+0xfa/0xfa0 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94
   entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f

  Freed by task 6023:
   kasan_save_stack mm/kasan/common.c:56 [inline]
   kasan_save_track+0x3e/0x80 mm/kasan/common.c:77
   kasan_save_free_info+0x46/0x50 mm/kasan/generic.c:584
   poison_slab_object mm/kasan/common.c:252 [inline]
   __kasan_slab_free+0x5c/0x80 mm/kasan/common.c:284
   kasan_slab_free include/linux/kasan.h:234 [inline]
   slab_free_hook mm/slub.c:2533 [inline]
   slab_free mm/slub.c:6622 [inline]
   kfree+0x19a/0x6d0 mm/slub.c:6829
   kvm_set_memory_region+0x9c4/0xb90 virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:2130
   kvm_vm_ioctl_set_memory_region+0x6f/0xd0 virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:2154
   kvm_vm_ioctl+0x957/0xc60 virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:5201
   vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline]
   __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:597 [inline]
   __se_sys_ioctl+0xfc/0x170 fs/ioctl.c:583
   do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline]
   do_syscall_64+0xfa/0xfa0 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94
   entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f

Deliberately don't acquire filemap invalid lock when the file is dying as
the lifecycle of f_mapping is outside the purview of KVM.  Dereferencing
the mapping is *probably* fine, but there's no need to invalidate anything
as memslot deletion is responsible for zapping SPTEs, and the only code
that can access the dying file is kvm_gmem_release(), whose core code is
mutual
---truncated---

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-40274?


## How do I fix CVE-2025-40274?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-40274 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-40274 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-40274 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-40274 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux, published on 6 Dec 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-2025-40274 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-2025-40274/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-40274/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-40274
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-40274
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-40274

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-40274/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.