Linux Kernel up to 6.6.111/6.12.52/6.17.2 Crypto API smb2ops.c cifs_sg_set_buf sensitive_size privilege escalation

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4.4$0-$5k0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.6.111/6.12.52/6.17.2. The affected element is the function cifs_sg_set_buf of the file smb2ops.c of the component Crypto API. Such manipulation of the argument sensitive_size leads to an unknown weakness. This vulnerability is listed as CVE-2025-40052. There is no available exploit. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.6.111/6.12.52/6.17.2. Affected by this issue is the function cifs_sg_set_buf of the file smb2ops.c of the component Crypto API. The manipulation of the argument sensitive_size with an unknown input leads to a unknown weakness. The impact remains unknown. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: smb: client: fix crypto buffers in non-linear memory The crypto API, through the scatterlist API, expects input buffers to be in linear memory. We handle this with the cifs_sg_set_buf() helper that converts vmalloc'd memory to their corresponding pages. However, when we allocate our aead_request buffer (@creq in smb2ops.c::crypt_message()), we do so with kvzalloc(), which possibly puts aead_request->__ctx in vmalloc area. AEAD algorithm then uses ->__ctx for its private/internal data and operations, and uses sg_set_buf() for such data on a few places. This works fine as long as @creq falls into kmalloc zone (small requests) or vmalloc'd memory is still within linear range. Tasks' stacks are vmalloc'd by default (CONFIG_VMAP_STACK=y), so too many tasks will increment the base stacks' addresses to a point where virt_addr_valid(buf) will fail (BUG() in sg_set_buf()) when that happens. In practice: too many parallel reads and writes on an encrypted mount will trigger this bug. To fix this, always alloc @creq with kmalloc() instead. Also drop the @sensitive_size variable/arguments since kfree_sensitive() doesn't need it. Backtrace: [ 945.272081] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 945.272774] kernel BUG at include/linux/scatterlist.h:209! [ 945.273520] Oops: invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] SMP DEBUG_PAGEALLOC NOPTI [ 945.274412] CPU: 7 UID: 0 PID: 56 Comm: kworker/u33:0 Kdump: loaded Not tainted 6.15.0-lku-11779-g8e9d6efccdd7-dirty #1 PREEMPT(voluntary) [ 945.275736] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS rel-1.16.3-2-gc13ff2cd-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 [ 945.276877] Workqueue: writeback wb_workfn (flush-cifs-2) [ 945.277457] RIP: 0010:crypto_gcm_init_common+0x1f9/0x220 [ 945.278018] Code: b0 00 00 00 48 83 c4 08 5b 5d 41 5c 41 5d 41 5e 41 5f c3 cc cc cc cc 48 c7 c0 00 00 00 80 48 2b 05 5c 58 e5 00 e9 58 ff ff ff <0f> 0b 0f 0b 0f 0b 0f 0b 0f 0b 0f 0b 48 c7 04 24 01 00 00 00 48 8b [ 945.279992] RSP: 0018:ffffc90000a27360 EFLAGS: 00010246 [ 945.280578] RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffffc90001d85060 RCX: 0000000000000030 [ 945.281376] RDX: 0000000000080000 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: ffffc90081d85070 [ 945.282145] RBP: ffffc90001d85010 R08: ffffc90001d85000 R09: 0000000000000000 [ 945.282898] R10: ffffc90001d85090 R11: 0000000000001000 R12: ffffc90001d85070 [ 945.283656] R13: ffff888113522948 R14: ffffc90001d85060 R15: ffffc90001d85010 [ 945.284407] FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff8882e66cf000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [ 945.285262] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [ 945.285884] CR2: 00007fa7ffdd31f4 CR3: 000000010540d000 CR4: 0000000000350ef0 [ 945.286683] Call Trace: [ 945.286952] <TASK> [ 945.287184] ? crypt_message+0x33f/0xad0 [cifs] [ 945.287719] crypto_gcm_encrypt+0x36/0xe0 [ 945.288152] crypt_message+0x54a/0xad0 [cifs] [ 945.288724] smb3_init_transform_rq+0x277/0x300 [cifs] [ 945.289300] smb_send_rqst+0xa3/0x160 [cifs] [ 945.289944] cifs_call_async+0x178/0x340 [cifs] [ 945.290514] ? __pfx_smb2_writev_callback+0x10/0x10 [cifs] [ 945.291177] smb2_async_writev+0x3e3/0x670 [cifs] [ 945.291759] ? find_held_lock+0x32/0x90 [ 945.292212] ? netfs_advance_write+0xf2/0x310 [ 945.292723] netfs_advance_write+0xf2/0x310 [ 945.293210] netfs_write_folio+0x346/0xcc0 [ 945.293689] ? __pfx__raw_spin_unlock_irq+0x10/0x10 [ 945.294250] netfs_writepages+0x117/0x460 [ 945.294724] do_writepages+0xbe/0x170 [ 945.295152] ? find_held_lock+0x32/0x90 [ 945.295600] ? kvm_sched_clock_read+0x11/0x20 [ 945.296103] __writeback_single_inode+0x56/0x4b0 [ 945.296643] writeback_sb_inodes+0x229/0x550 [ 945.297140] __writeback_inodes_wb+0x4c/0xe0 [ 945.297642] wb_writeback+0x2f1/0x3f0 [ 945.298069] wb_workfn+0x300/0x490 [ 945.298472] process_one_work+0x1fe/0x590 [ 945.298949] worker_thread+0x1ce/0x3c0 [ 945.299397] ? __pfx_worker_thread+0x10/0x10 [ 945.299900] kthr ---truncated---

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2025-40052 since 04/16/2025. The exploitation is known to be difficult. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 271900 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2025-40052), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.6.112, 6.12.53, 6.17.3 or 6.18-rc1 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch ba905a567105dde21cdb8e6d3a87110fa434b393/7a8a8c15468f0c99685e9964451feffd1a3cc859/4a61b68abd2788db0364c9a0b6a39f1699fea440/998a67b954680f26f3734040aeeed08642d49721 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 (271900) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2431). VulDB is the best source for vulnerability data and more expert information about this specific topic.

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

Vendor

Name

Version

License

Website

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 4.6
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 4.4

VulDB Base Score: 4.6
VulDB Temp Score: 4.4
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv2info

AVACAuCIA
💳💳💳💳💳💳
💳💳💳💳💳💳
💳💳💳💳💳💳
VectorComplexityAuthenticationConfidentialityIntegrityAvailability
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VulDB Base Score: 🔒
VulDB Temp Score: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Privilege escalation
CWE: Unknown
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Partially

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined

EPSS Score: 🔒
EPSS Percentile: 🔒

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒

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Nessus ID: 271900
Nessus Name: Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2025-40052

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔒

Upgrade: Kernel 6.6.112/6.12.53/6.17.3/6.18-rc1
Patch: ba905a567105dde21cdb8e6d3a87110fa434b393/7a8a8c15468f0c99685e9964451feffd1a3cc859/4a61b68abd2788db0364c9a0b6a39f1699fea440/998a67b954680f26f3734040aeeed08642d49721

Timelineinfo

04/16/2025 CVE reserved
10/28/2025 +195 days Advisory disclosed
10/28/2025 +0 days VulDB entry created
05/20/2026 +204 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: kernel.org

Advisory: git.kernel.org
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2025-40052 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2025-40052
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-330248
CERT Bund: WID-SEC-2025-2431 - Linux Kernel: Mehrere Schwachstellen

Entryinfo

Created: 10/28/2025 14:42
Updated: 05/20/2026 02:38
Changes: 10/28/2025 14:42 (59), 10/29/2025 04:33 (1), 10/29/2025 10:49 (2), 10/30/2025 05:51 (7), 10/31/2025 09:59 (1), 11/24/2025 15:14 (1), 12/22/2025 01:42 (1), 02/08/2026 17:31 (1), 02/15/2026 20:05 (1), 05/20/2026 02:38 (1)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

VulDB is the best source for vulnerability data and more expert information about this specific topic.

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