Linux Kernel up to 6.12.53/6.17.3 ice ice_adapter_new null pointer dereference

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.53/6.17.3 and classified as critical. This affects the function ice_adapter_new of the component ice. Such manipulation leads to null pointer dereference. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2025-40185. No exploit exists. It is suggested to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.53/6.17.3. It has been rated as critical. Affected by this issue is the function ice_adapter_new of the component ice. 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: ice: ice_adapter: release xa entry on adapter allocation failure When ice_adapter_new() fails, the reserved XArray entry created by xa_insert() is not released. This causes subsequent insertions at the same index to return -EBUSY, potentially leading to NULL pointer dereferences. Reorder the operations as suggested by Przemek Kitszel: 1. Check if adapter already exists (xa_load) 2. Reserve the XArray slot (xa_reserve) 3. Allocate the adapter (ice_adapter_new) 4. Store the adapter (xa_store)

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2025-40185 since 04/16/2025. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 275355 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2025-40185), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.12.54, 6.17.4 or 6.18-rc1 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 7b9269de9815fc34d93dab90bd5169bacbe78e70/794abb265de3e792167fe3ea0440c064c722bb84/2db687f3469dbc5c59bc53d55acafd75d530b497 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 (275355) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2595). Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Affected

• Google Container-Optimized OS
• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise 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
• 6.17.0
• 6.17.1
• 6.17.2
• 6.17.3

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

Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

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