Linux Kernel up to 6.6.71/6.12.9 hwmon uninitialized pointer

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as problematic has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.6.71/6.12.9. The affected element is an unknown function of the component hwmon. Performing a manipulation results in uninitialized pointer. This vulnerability was named CVE-2025-21656. There is no available exploit. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.6.71/6.12.9. This affects some unknown processing of the component hwmon. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a uninitialized pointer vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-824. The product accesses or uses a pointer that has not been initialized. The impact remains unknown. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: hwmon: (drivetemp) Fix driver producing garbage data when SCSI errors occur scsi_execute_cmd() function can return both negative (linux codes) and positive (scsi_cmnd result field) error codes. Currently the driver just passes error codes of scsi_execute_cmd() to hwmon core, which is incorrect because hwmon only checks for negative error codes. This leads to hwmon reporting uninitialized data to userspace in case of SCSI errors (for example if the disk drive was disconnected). This patch checks scsi_execute_cmd() output and returns -EIO if it's error code is positive. [groeck: Avoid inline variable declaration for portability]

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2025-21656 since 12/29/2024. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not publicly available.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 231811 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2025-21656), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.6.72 or 6.12.10 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 53e25b10a28edaf8c2a1d3916fd8929501a50dfc/42268d885e44af875a6474f7bba519cc6cea6a9d/82163d63ae7a4c36142cd252388737205bb7e4b9 is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (231811) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-0155). Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Affected

• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• RESF Rocky Linux
• Dell NetWorker
• Dell Avamar
• Dell PowerProtect Data Domain
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• Dell Secure Connect Gateway

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.6.0
• 6.6.1
• 6.6.2
• 6.6.3
• 6.6.4
• 6.6.5
• 6.6.6
• 6.6.7
• 6.6.8
• 6.6.9
• 6.6.10
• 6.6.11
• 6.6.12
• 6.6.13
• 6.6.14
• 6.6.15
• 6.6.16
• 6.6.17
• 6.6.18
• 6.6.19
• 6.6.20
• 6.6.21
• 6.6.22
• 6.6.23
• 6.6.24
• 6.6.25
• 6.6.26
• 6.6.27
• 6.6.28
• 6.6.29
• 6.6.30
• 6.6.31
• 6.6.32
• 6.6.33
• 6.6.34
• 6.6.35
• 6.6.36
• 6.6.37
• 6.6.38
• 6.6.39
• 6.6.40
• 6.6.41
• 6.6.42
• 6.6.43
• 6.6.44
• 6.6.45
• 6.6.46
• 6.6.47
• 6.6.48
• 6.6.49
• 6.6.50
• 6.6.51
• 6.6.52
• 6.6.53
• 6.6.54
• 6.6.55
• 6.6.56
• 6.6.57
• 6.6.58
• 6.6.59
• 6.6.60
• 6.6.61
• 6.6.62
• 6.6.63
• 6.6.64
• 6.6.65
• 6.6.66
• 6.6.67
• 6.6.68
• 6.6.69
• 6.6.70
• 6.6.71
• 6.12.0
• 6.12.1
• 6.12.2
• 6.12.3
• 6.12.4
• 6.12.5
• 6.12.6
• 6.12.7
• 6.12.8
• 6.12.9

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Entryinfo

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