Linux Kernel up to 6.12.43/6.16.3/6.17-rc2 initialization

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.43/6.16.3/6.17-rc2. The impacted element is an unknown function. The manipulation leads to initialization. This vulnerability is listed as CVE-2025-39780. There is no available exploit. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.43/6.16.3/6.17-rc2. It has been rated as critical. This issue affects some unknown processing. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a initialization vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-665. The product does not initialize or incorrectly initializes a resource, which might leave the resource in an unexpected state when it is accessed or used. The impact remains unknown. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: sched/ext: Fix invalid task state transitions on class switch When enabling a sched_ext scheduler, we may trigger invalid task state transitions, resulting in warnings like the following (which can be easily reproduced by running the hotplug selftest in a loop): sched_ext: Invalid task state transition 0 -> 3 for fish[770] WARNING: CPU: 18 PID: 787 at kernel/sched/ext.c:3862 scx_set_task_state+0x7c/0xc0 ... RIP: 0010:scx_set_task_state+0x7c/0xc0 ... Call Trace: <TASK> scx_enable_task+0x11f/0x2e0 switching_to_scx+0x24/0x110 scx_enable.isra.0+0xd14/0x13d0 bpf_struct_ops_link_create+0x136/0x1a0 __sys_bpf+0x1edd/0x2c30 __x64_sys_bpf+0x21/0x30 do_syscall_64+0xbb/0x370 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f This happens because we skip initialization for tasks that are already dead (with their usage counter set to zero), but we don't exclude them during the scheduling class transition phase. Fix this by also skipping dead tasks during class swiching, preventing invalid task state transitions.

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2025-39780 since 04/16/2025. The exploitation is known to be difficult. Neither technical details nor an exploit are publicly available.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 264759 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2025-39780), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.12.44, 6.16.4 or 6.17-rc3 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying a patch 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 (264759) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2040). If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

Affected

• Google Container-Optimized OS
• Debian Linux
• Google Cloud Platform
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Fedora Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• SUSE openSUSE
• RESF Rocky Linux
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• Proxmox Virtual Environment
• Proxmox Backup Server
• Dell Secure Connect Gateway
• IBM QRadar SIEM

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 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
• 6.12.10
• 6.12.11
• 6.12.12
• 6.12.13
• 6.12.14
• 6.12.15
• 6.12.16
• 6.12.17
• 6.12.18
• 6.12.19
• 6.12.20
• 6.12.21
• 6.12.22
• 6.12.23
• 6.12.24
• 6.12.25
• 6.12.26
• 6.12.27
• 6.12.28
• 6.12.29
• 6.12.30
• 6.12.31
• 6.12.32
• 6.12.33
• 6.12.34
• 6.12.35
• 6.12.36
• 6.12.37
• 6.12.38
• 6.12.39
• 6.12.40
• 6.12.41
• 6.12.42
• 6.12.43
• 6.16.0
• 6.16.1
• 6.16.2
• 6.16.3
• 6.17-rc1
• 6.17-rc2

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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CVSSv4info

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Exploitinginfo

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Countermeasuresinfo

Timelineinfo

Sourcesinfo

Entryinfo

If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

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