Linux Kernel up to 6.17.4/6.18-rc1 EDAC Call cxl_feature_info null pointer dereference

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.17.4/6.18-rc1. This issue affects the function cxl_feature_info of the component EDAC Call Handler. Such manipulation leads to null pointer dereference. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2025-40089. There is no exploit available. Upgrading the affected component is advised.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.17.4/6.18-rc1. Affected by this issue is the function cxl_feature_info of the component EDAC Call Handler. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a null pointer dereference vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-476. A NULL pointer dereference occurs when the application dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid, but is NULL, typically causing a crash or exit. Impacted is availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: cxl/features: Add check for no entries in cxl_feature_info cxl EDAC calls cxl_feature_info() to get the feature information and if the hardware has no Features support, cxlfs may be passed in as NULL. [ 51.957498] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000008 [ 51.965571] #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode [ 51.971559] #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page [ 51.977542] PGD 17e4f6067 P4D 0 [ 51.981384] Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP NOPTI [ 51.986300] CPU: 49 UID: 0 PID: 3782 Comm: systemd-udevd Not tainted 6.17.0dj test+ #64 PREEMPT(voluntary) [ 51.997355] Hardware name: <removed> [ 52.009790] RIP: 0010:cxl_feature_info+0xa/0x80 [cxl_core] Add a check for cxlfs before dereferencing it and return -EOPNOTSUPP if there is no cxlfs created due to no hardware support.

The advisory is available at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2025-40089 since 04/16/2025. The exploitation is known to be difficult. Technical details are known, but there is no available exploit.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 272050 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2025-40089), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.17.5 or 6.18-rc2 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch b8a69e3b1a460bf5d96dd53cbd121aa2cd346886/a375246fcf2bbdaeb1df7fa7ee5a8b884a89085e 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 (272050) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2450). If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.

Affected

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

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.17.0
• 6.17.1
• 6.17.2
• 6.17.3
• 6.17.4
• 6.18-rc1

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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Entryinfo

If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.

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