# CVE-2025-71285: net: qrtr: Drop the MHI auto_queue feature for IPCR DL channels

> A race condition in the Linux kernel QRTR driver can cause a NULL pointer dereference, leading to a system crash or 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:** 6 May 2026
- **Updated:** 21 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-85826, BELL-CVE-2025-71285, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-71285, GHSA-7g25-3chf-ppwr, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-71285, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2025-71285, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-71285, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-71285, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-71285

## What is CVE-2025-71285?

CVE-2025-71285 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 6 May 2026. 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:

net: qrtr: Drop the MHI auto_queue feature for IPCR DL channels

MHI stack offers the 'auto_queue' feature, which allows the MHI stack to
auto queue the buffers for the RX path (DL channel). Though this feature
simplifies the client driver design, it introduces race between the client
drivers and the MHI stack. For instance, with auto_queue, the 'dl_callback'
for the DL channel may get called before the client driver is fully probed.
This means, by the time the dl_callback gets called, the client driver's
structures might not be initialized, leading to NULL ptr dereference.

Currently, the drivers have to workaround this issue by initializing the
internal structures before calling mhi_prepare_for_transfer_autoqueue().
But even so, there is a chance that the client driver's internal code path
may call the MHI queue APIs before mhi_prepare_for_transfer_autoqueue() is
called, leading to similar NULL ptr dereference. This issue has been
reported on the Qcom X1E80100 CRD machines affecting boot.

So to properly fix all these races, drop the MHI 'auto_queue' feature
altogether and let the client driver (QRTR) manage the RX buffers manually.
In the QRTR driver, queue the RX buffers based on the ring length during
probe and recycle the buffers in 'dl_callback' once they are consumed. This
also warrants removing the setting of 'auto_queue' flag from controller
drivers.

Currently, this 'auto_queue' feature is only enabled for IPCR DL channel.
So only the QRTR client driver requires the modification.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-71285?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-71285?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-71285 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-71285 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-2025-71285 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-71285 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 6 May 2026. 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-2025-71285 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-2025-71285/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-71285/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-71285
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-71285
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-71285

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-71285/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.