CVE-2025-40249
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: gpio: cdev: make sure the cdev fd is still active before emitting events With the final call to fput() on a file descriptor, the release action may be deferred and scheduled on a work queue. The reference count of that descriptor is still zero and it must not be used. It's possible that a GPIO change, we want to notify the user-space about, happens AFTER the reference count on the file descriptor associated with the character device went down to zero but BEFORE the .release() callback was called from the workqueue and so BEFORE we unregistered from the notifier. Using the regular get_file() routine in this situation triggers the following warning: struct file::f_count incremented from zero; use-after-free condition present! So use the get_file_active() variant that will return NULL on file descriptors that have been or are being released.
Affected versions
Linux kernel versions
6.13
and later are affected. Fixed in
6.17.10,
6.18
and their respective stable series.
References
The following references provide additional information about CVE-2025-40249 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/d4cd0902c156b2ca60fdda8cd8b5bcb4b0e9ed64
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PatchKernel patch commithttps://git.kernel.org/stable/c/dccc6daa8afa0f64c432e4c867f275747e3415e1
Frequently asked questions
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What is CVE-2025-40249?
CVE-2025-40249 is a unscored severity Linux kernel vulnerability . It affects Linux kernel versions from 6.13 onward and has been patched in 6.17.10 and 6.18. CVE-2025-40249 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-2025-40249?
Yes — CVE-2025-40249 has been patched. Fixed versions include 6.17.10 and 6.18. If you are running Linux kernel 6.13 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.
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Is CVE-2025-40249 actively exploited?
No — CVE-2025-40249 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.