Linux Kernel up to 6.17.4/6.18-rc1 usbnet smp_processor_id stack-based overflow

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability identified as critical has been detected in Linux Kernel up to 6.17.4/6.18-rc1. The affected element is the function smp_processor_id of the component usbnet. This manipulation causes stack-based overflow. This vulnerability appears as CVE-2025-40164. There is no available exploit. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.17.4/6.18-rc1. Affected by this vulnerability is the function smp_processor_id of the component usbnet. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a stack-based overflow vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-121. A stack-based buffer overflow condition is a condition where the buffer being overwritten is allocated on the stack (i.e., is a local variable or, rarely, a parameter to a function). As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: usbnet: Fix using smp_processor_id() in preemptible code warnings Syzbot reported the following warning: BUG: using smp_processor_id() in preemptible [00000000] code: dhcpcd/2879 caller is usbnet_skb_return+0x74/0x490 drivers/net/usb/usbnet.c:331 CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 2879 Comm: dhcpcd Not tainted 6.15.0-rc4-syzkaller-00098-g615dca38c2ea #0 PREEMPT(voluntary) Call Trace: <TASK> __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:94 [inline] dump_stack_lvl+0x16c/0x1f0 lib/dump_stack.c:120 check_preemption_disabled+0xd0/0xe0 lib/smp_processor_id.c:49 usbnet_skb_return+0x74/0x490 drivers/net/usb/usbnet.c:331 usbnet_resume_rx+0x4b/0x170 drivers/net/usb/usbnet.c:708 usbnet_change_mtu+0x1be/0x220 drivers/net/usb/usbnet.c:417 __dev_set_mtu net/core/dev.c:9443 [inline] netif_set_mtu_ext+0x369/0x5c0 net/core/dev.c:9496 netif_set_mtu+0xb0/0x160 net/core/dev.c:9520 dev_set_mtu+0xae/0x170 net/core/dev_api.c:247 dev_ifsioc+0xa31/0x18d0 net/core/dev_ioctl.c:572 dev_ioctl+0x223/0x10e0 net/core/dev_ioctl.c:821 sock_do_ioctl+0x19d/0x280 net/socket.c:1204 sock_ioctl+0x42f/0x6a0 net/socket.c:1311 vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline] __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:906 [inline] __se_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:892 [inline] __x64_sys_ioctl+0x190/0x200 fs/ioctl.c:892 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline] do_syscall_64+0xcd/0x260 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f For historical and portability reasons, the netif_rx() is usually run in the softirq or interrupt context, this commit therefore add local_bh_disable/enable() protection in the usbnet_resume_rx().

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2025-40164 since 04/16/2025. The exploitation appears to be easy. Technical details are known, but no exploit is available. The price for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 02/26/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 275226 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2025-40164), 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 0134c7bff14bd50314a4f92b182850ddfc38e255/327cd4b68b4398b6c24f10eb2b2533ffbfc10185 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 (275226) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2579). 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
• 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

• 6.17.0
• 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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