CVE-2025-40297

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: bridge: fix use-after-free due to MST port state bypass syzbot reported[1] a use-after-free when deleting an expired fdb. It is due to a race condition between learning still happening and a port being deleted, after all its fdbs have been flushed. The port's state has been toggled to disabled so no learning should happen at that time, but if we have MST enabled, it will bypass the port's state, that together with VLAN filtering disabled can lead to fdb learning at a time when it shouldn't happen while the port is being deleted. VLAN filtering must be disabled because we flush the port VLANs when it's being deleted which will stop learning. This fix adds a check for the port's vlan group which is initialized to NULL when the port is getting deleted, that avoids the port state bypass. When MST is enabled there would be a minimal new overhead in the fast-path because the port's vlan group pointer is cache-hot. [1] https://syzkaller.appspot.com/bug?extid=dd280197f0f7ab3917be

Package Linux Kernel
Published 2025-12-08
Last modified 2026-04-15
Patch available
Yes

Affected versions

Linux kernel versions 5.18 and later are affected. Fixed in 6.1.159, 6.6.117, 6.12.58, 6.17.8, 6.18 and their respective stable series.

Affected from
≥ 5.18
Fixed in
✓ 6.1.159 6.1.x ✓ 6.6.117 6.6.x ✓ 6.12.58 6.12.x ✓ 6.17.8 6.17.x ✓ 6.18

References

The following references provide additional information about CVE-2025-40297 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-2025-40297?

    CVE-2025-40297 is a unscored severity Linux kernel vulnerability . It affects Linux kernel versions from 5.18 onward and has been patched in 6.1.159, 6.6.117, 6.12.58 and others. CVE-2025-40297 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

  • Is there a patch available for CVE-2025-40297?

    Yes — CVE-2025-40297 has been patched. Fixed versions include 6.1.159, 6.6.117, 6.12.58 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 5.18 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.

  • Is CVE-2025-40297 actively exploited?

    No — CVE-2025-40297 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.