CVE-2025-40049

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: Squashfs: fix uninit-value in squashfs_get_parent Syzkaller reports a "KMSAN: uninit-value in squashfs_get_parent" bug. This is caused by open_by_handle_at() being called with a file handle containing an invalid parent inode number. In particular the inode number is that of a symbolic link, rather than a directory. Squashfs_get_parent() gets called with that symbolic link inode, and accesses the parent member field. unsigned int parent_ino = squashfs_i(inode)->parent; Because non-directory inodes in Squashfs do not have a parent value, this is uninitialised, and this causes an uninitialised value access. The fix is to initialise parent with the invalid inode 0, which will cause an EINVAL error to be returned. Regular inodes used to share the parent field with the block_list_start field. This is removed in this commit to enable the parent field to contain the invalid inode number 0.

Package Linux Kernel
Published 2025-10-28
Last modified 2026-04-15
Patch available
Yes

Affected versions

Linux kernel versions 2.6.29 and later are affected. Fixed in 5.4.301, 5.10.246, 5.15.195, 6.1.156, 6.6.112, 6.12.53, 6.17.3, 6.18 and their respective stable series.

Affected from
≥ 2.6.29
Fixed in
✓ 5.4.301 5.4.x ✓ 5.10.246 5.10.x ✓ 5.15.195 5.15.x ✓ 6.1.156 6.1.x ✓ 6.6.112 6.6.x ✓ 6.12.53 6.12.x ✓ 6.17.3 6.17.x ✓ 6.18

References

The following references provide additional information about CVE-2025-40049 including vendor advisories, patch commits, exploit details, and third-party analysis. Links are sourced from the NIST NVD database.

Frequently asked questions

  • What is CVE-2025-40049?

    CVE-2025-40049 is a unscored severity Linux kernel vulnerability . It affects Linux kernel versions from 2.6.29 onward and has been patched in 5.4.301, 5.10.246, 5.15.195 and others. CVE-2025-40049 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

  • Is there a patch available for CVE-2025-40049?

    Yes — CVE-2025-40049 has been patched. Fixed versions include 5.4.301, 5.10.246, 5.15.195 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 2.6.29 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.

  • Is CVE-2025-40049 actively exploited?

    No — CVE-2025-40049 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.