In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: audit: fix out-of-bounds read in audit_compare_dname_path() When a watch on dir=/ is combined with an fsnotify event for a single-character name directly under / (e.g., creating /a), an out-of-bounds read can occur in audit_compare_dname_path(). The helper parent_len() returns 1 for "/". In audit_compare_dname_path(), when parentlen equals the full path length (1), the code sets p = path + 1 and pathlen = 1 - 1 = 0. The subsequent loop then dereferences p[pathlen - 1] (i.e., p[-1]), causing an out-of-bounds read. Fix this by adding a pathlen > 0 check to the while loop condition to prevent the out-of-bounds access. [PM: subject tweak, sign-off email fixes]
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-39840 is rated Low Risk (29.6/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.02%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.
Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.
EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).
| # | Date | Old EPSS score | New EPSS score | Delta (New - Old) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2025-09-20 | — | 0.02% | — |
Full EPSS history (1 record total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7.1 | 3.1 | HIGH |
|
1.8 | 5.2 | [email protected] |
| 7.1 | 3.1 | HIGH |
|
1.8 | 5.2 | 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 |
| vendor | priority | summary | link |
|---|---|---|---|
debian
|
unimportant | CVE-2025-39840 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. | https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-39840 |
redhat
|
medium | — | https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-39840 |
suse
|
medium | CVE-2025-39840 severity moderate: SUSE including 26 source package names (cluster-md-kmp-default, dlm-kmp-default, …), 276 product×package rows across 54 product lines (SLES-LTSS-TERADATA 15 SP2, SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7, … (54 product lines)): Known Not Affected 276. | https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-39840/ |
ubuntu
|
medium | CVE-2025-39840 medium priority: Ubuntu including 158 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1414 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1017, ignored 175, not-affected 129, released 88, needed 3, needs-triage 2. | https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-39840 |
| Vendor | Product | Version | Raw CPE |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux | linux_kernel | >= 6.14, < 6.16.6 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.17 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.17:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.17 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.17:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.17 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.17:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.17 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.17:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* |