CVE-2025-40105
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: vfs: Don't leak disconnected dentries on umount When user calls open_by_handle_at() on some inode that is not cached, we will create disconnected dentry for it. If such dentry is a directory, exportfs_decode_fh_raw() will then try to connect this dentry to the dentry tree through reconnect_path(). It may happen for various reasons (such as corrupted fs or race with rename) that the call to lookup_one_unlocked() in reconnect_one() will fail to find the dentry we are trying to reconnect and instead create a new dentry under the parent. Now this dentry will not be marked as disconnected although the parent still may well be disconnected (at least in case this inconsistency happened because the fs is corrupted and .. doesn't point to the real parent directory). This creates inconsistency in disconnected flags but AFAICS it was mostly harmless. At least until commit f1ee616214cb ("VFS: don't keep disconnected dentries on d_anon") which removed adding of most disconnected dentries to sb->s_anon list. Thus after this commit cleanup of disconnected dentries implicitely relies on the fact that dput() will immediately reclaim such dentries. However when some leaf dentry isn't marked as disconnected, as in the scenario described above, the reclaim doesn't happen and the dentries are "leaked". Memory reclaim can eventually reclaim them but otherwise they stay in memory and if umount comes first, we hit infamous "Busy inodes after unmount" bug. Make sure all dentries created under a disconnected parent are marked as disconnected as well.
Affected versions
Linux kernel versions
4.16
and later are affected. Fixed in
5.4.301,
5.10.246,
5.15.196,
6.1.158,
6.6.114,
6.12.55,
6.17.5,
6.18
and their respective stable series.
References
The following references provide additional information about CVE-2025-40105 including vendor advisories, patch commits, exploit details, and third-party analysis. Links are sourced from the NIST NVD database.
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PatchKernel patch commithttps://git.kernel.org/stable/c/20863bb7fbb016379f8227122edfabc5c799bc79
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PatchKernel patch commithttps://git.kernel.org/stable/c/56094ad3eaa21e6621396cc33811d8f72847a834
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PatchKernel patch commithttps://git.kernel.org/stable/c/620f3b0ede9c5cb4976cd0457d0b04ad551e5d6b
Frequently asked questions
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What is CVE-2025-40105?
CVE-2025-40105 is a unscored severity Linux kernel vulnerability . It affects Linux kernel versions from 4.16 onward and has been patched in 5.4.301, 5.10.246, 5.15.196 and others. CVE-2025-40105 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
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Is there a patch available for CVE-2025-40105?
Yes — CVE-2025-40105 has been patched. Fixed versions include 5.4.301, 5.10.246, 5.15.196 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 4.16 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.
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Is CVE-2025-40105 actively exploited?
No — CVE-2025-40105 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.