Linux Kernel up to 6.12.54/6.17.4/6.18-rc1 exec_destroy state issue

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.54/6.17.4/6.18-rc1. Affected is the function exec_destroy. Executing a manipulation can lead to state issue. This vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2025-40166. No exploit exists. Upgrading the affected component is advised.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.54/6.17.4/6.18-rc1 and classified as critical. This vulnerability affects the function exec_destroy. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a state issue vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-371. The impact remains unknown. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: drm/xe/guc: Check GuC running state before deregistering exec queue In normal operation, a registered exec queue is disabled and deregistered through the GuC, and freed only after the GuC confirms completion. However, if the driver is forced to unbind while the exec queue is still running, the user may call exec_destroy() after the GuC has already been stopped and CT communication disabled. In this case, the driver cannot receive a response from the GuC, preventing proper cleanup of exec queue resources. Fix this by directly releasing the resources when GuC is not running. Here is the failure dmesg log: " [ 468.089581] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- [ 468.089608] pci 0000:03:00.0: [drm] *ERROR* GT0: GUC ID manager unclean (1/65535) [ 468.090558] pci 0000:03:00.0: [drm] GT0: total 65535 [ 468.090562] pci 0000:03:00.0: [drm] GT0: used 1 [ 468.090564] pci 0000:03:00.0: [drm] GT0: range 1..1 (1) [ 468.092716] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 468.092719] WARNING: CPU: 14 PID: 4775 at drivers/gpu/drm/xe/xe_ttm_vram_mgr.c:298 ttm_vram_mgr_fini+0xf8/0x130 [xe] " v2: use xe_uc_fw_is_running() instead of xe_guc_ct_enabled(). As CT may go down and come back during VF migration. (cherry picked from commit 9b42321a02c50a12b2beb6ae9469606257fbecea)

The advisory is available at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability was named CVE-2025-40166 since 04/16/2025. The exploitation appears to be difficult. Technical details are known, but there is no available exploit. The structure of the vulnerability defines a possible price range of USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 02/08/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 275228 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2025-40166), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.12.55, 6.17.5 or 6.18-rc2 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 2c6e5904c5bdbac8e0eadee40f70c42bb83f6dc6/fa708415566bbe5361c935645107319f8edc8dc1/9f64b3cd051b825de0a2a9f145c8e003200cedd5 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 (275228) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2579). 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
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• RESF Rocky Linux

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
• 6.12.53
• 6.12.54
• 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/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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CVSSv4info

CVSSv3info

CVSSv2info

Exploitinginfo

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Countermeasuresinfo

Timelineinfo

Sourcesinfo

Entryinfo

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

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