Linux Kernel up to 6.12.52/6.17.2 fbdev simplefb_detach_genpds use after free

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability identified as critical has been detected in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.52/6.17.2. The impacted element is the function simplefb_detach_genpds of the component fbdev. The manipulation leads to use after free. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2025-40037. No exploit exists. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.52/6.17.2. It has been rated as critical. This issue affects the function simplefb_detach_genpds of the component fbdev. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a use after free vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-416. Referencing memory after it has been freed can cause a program to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: fbdev: simplefb: Fix use after free in simplefb_detach_genpds() The pm_domain cleanup can not be devres managed as it uses struct simplefb_par which is allocated within struct fb_info by framebuffer_alloc(). This allocation is explicitly freed by unregister_framebuffer() in simplefb_remove(). Devres managed cleanup runs after the device remove call and thus can no longer access struct simplefb_par. Call simplefb_detach_genpds() explicitly from simplefb_destroy() like the cleanup functions for clocks and regulators. Fixes an use after free on M2 Mac mini during aperture_remove_conflicting_devices() using the downstream asahi kernel with Debian's kernel config. For unknown reasons this started to consistently dereference an invalid pointer in v6.16.3 based kernels. [ 6.736134] BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in simplefb_detach_genpds+0x58/0x220 [ 6.743545] Read of size 4 at addr ffff8000304743f0 by task (udev-worker)/227 [ 6.750697] [ 6.752182] CPU: 6 UID: 0 PID: 227 Comm: (udev-worker) Tainted: G S 6.16.3-asahi+ #16 PREEMPTLAZY [ 6.752186] Tainted: [S]=CPU_OUT_OF_SPEC [ 6.752187] Hardware name: Apple Mac mini (M2, 2023) (DT) [ 6.752189] Call trace: [ 6.752190] show_stack+0x34/0x98 (C) [ 6.752194] dump_stack_lvl+0x60/0x80 [ 6.752197] print_report+0x17c/0x4d8 [ 6.752201] kasan_report+0xb4/0x100 [ 6.752206] __asan_report_load4_noabort+0x20/0x30 [ 6.752209] simplefb_detach_genpds+0x58/0x220 [ 6.752213] devm_action_release+0x50/0x98 [ 6.752216] release_nodes+0xd0/0x2c8 [ 6.752219] devres_release_all+0xfc/0x178 [ 6.752221] device_unbind_cleanup+0x28/0x168 [ 6.752224] device_release_driver_internal+0x34c/0x470 [ 6.752228] device_release_driver+0x20/0x38 [ 6.752231] bus_remove_device+0x1b0/0x380 [ 6.752234] device_del+0x314/0x820 [ 6.752238] platform_device_del+0x3c/0x1e8 [ 6.752242] platform_device_unregister+0x20/0x50 [ 6.752246] aperture_detach_platform_device+0x1c/0x30 [ 6.752250] aperture_detach_devices+0x16c/0x290 [ 6.752253] aperture_remove_conflicting_devices+0x34/0x50 ... [ 6.752343] [ 6.967409] Allocated by task 62: [ 6.970724] kasan_save_stack+0x3c/0x70 [ 6.974560] kasan_save_track+0x20/0x40 [ 6.978397] kasan_save_alloc_info+0x40/0x58 [ 6.982670] __kasan_kmalloc+0xd4/0xd8 [ 6.986420] __kmalloc_noprof+0x194/0x540 [ 6.990432] framebuffer_alloc+0xc8/0x130 [ 6.994444] simplefb_probe+0x258/0x2378 ... [ 7.054356] [ 7.055838] Freed by task 227: [ 7.058891] kasan_save_stack+0x3c/0x70 [ 7.062727] kasan_save_track+0x20/0x40 [ 7.066565] kasan_save_free_info+0x4c/0x80 [ 7.070751] __kasan_slab_free+0x6c/0xa0 [ 7.074675] kfree+0x10c/0x380 [ 7.077727] framebuffer_release+0x5c/0x90 [ 7.081826] simplefb_destroy+0x1b4/0x2c0 [ 7.085837] put_fb_info+0x98/0x100 [ 7.089326] unregister_framebuffer+0x178/0x320 [ 7.093861] simplefb_remove+0x3c/0x60 [ 7.097611] platform_remove+0x60/0x98 [ 7.101361] device_remove+0xb8/0x160 [ 7.105024] device_release_driver_internal+0x2fc/0x470 [ 7.110256] device_release_driver+0x20/0x38 [ 7.114529] bus_remove_device+0x1b0/0x380 [ 7.118628] device_del+0x314/0x820 [ 7.122116] platform_device_del+0x3c/0x1e8 [ 7.126302] platform_device_unregister+0x20/0x50 [ 7.131012] aperture_detach_platform_device+0x1c/0x30 [ 7.136157] aperture_detach_devices+0x16c/0x290 [ 7.140779] aperture_remove_conflicting_devices+0x34/0x50 ...

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2025-40037 since 04/16/2025. The exploitation is known to be easy. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 05/19/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 271881 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2025-40037), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.12.53, 6.17.3 or 6.18-rc1 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch b1deb39cfd614fb2f278b71011692a8dbf0f05ba/b6ff0d8de8452ec0e18e5bd7394c2a23e7ff7353/da1bb9135213744e7ec398826c8f2e843de4fb94 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 (271881) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2431). Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Affected

• Google Container-Optimized OS
• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• IBM QRadar SIEM
• SUSE openSUSE
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• RESF Rocky Linux
• Microsoft Azure
• Dell NetWorker
• Dell ECS

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
• 6.12.44
• 6.12.45
• 6.12.46
• 6.12.47
• 6.12.48
• 6.12.49
• 6.12.50
• 6.12.51
• 6.12.52
• 6.17.0
• 6.17.1
• 6.17.2

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Exploitinginfo

Threat Intelligenceinfo

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Entryinfo

Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

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