Linux Kernel up to 6.12.57/6.17.7 p9_read_work privilege escalation

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.57/6.17.7 and classified as problematic. This affects the function p9_read_work. The manipulation results in an unknown weakness. This vulnerability is identified as CVE-2025-40305. There is not any exploit available. It is suggested to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.57/6.17.7. It has been classified as problematic. The impact remains unknown. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: 9p/trans_fd: p9_fd_request: kick rx thread if EPOLLIN p9_read_work() doesn't set Rworksched and doesn't do schedule_work(m->rq) if list_empty(&m->req_list). However, if the pipe is full, we need to read more data and this used to work prior to commit aaec5a95d59615 ("pipe_read: don't wake up the writer if the pipe is still full"). p9_read_work() does p9_fd_read() -> ... -> anon_pipe_read() which (before the commit above) triggered the unnecessary wakeup. This wakeup calls p9_pollwake() which kicks p9_poll_workfn() -> p9_poll_mux(), p9_poll_mux() will notice EPOLLIN and schedule_work(&m->rq). This no longer happens after the optimization above, change p9_fd_request() to use p9_poll_mux() instead of only checking for EPOLLOUT.

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2025-40305 since 04/16/2025. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $0-$5k (estimation calculated on 02/23/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 298897 (Ubuntu 25.10 : Linux kernel vulnerabilities (USN-8029-1)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.12.58 or 6.17.8 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 2e1461034aef99e905a1fe5589aaf00eaea73eee/242531004d7de8c159f9bfadebe33fe8060b1046/e8fe3f07a357c39d429e02ca34f740692d88967a 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 (298897) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2756). Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Affected

• Google Container-Optimized OS
• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• NetApp FAS
• NetApp AFF
• SUSE openSUSE
• RESF Rocky Linux
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• Microsoft Azure 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
• 6.12.55
• 6.12.56
• 6.12.57
• 6.17.0
• 6.17.1
• 6.17.2
• 6.17.3
• 6.17.4
• 6.17.5
• 6.17.6
• 6.17.7

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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