CVE-2025-39904 [Medium] | Security Vulnerability in Linux Kernel

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: arm64: kexec: initialize kexec_buf struct in load_other_segments() Patch series "kexec: Fix invalid field access". The kexec_buf structure was previously declared without initialization. commit bf454ec31add ("kexec_file: allow to place kexec_buf randomly") added a field that is always read but not consistently populated by all architectures. This un-initialized field will contain garbage. This is also triggering a UBSAN warning when the uninitialized data was accessed: ------------[ cut here ]------------ UBSAN: invalid-load in ./include/linux/kexec.h:210:10 load of value 252 is not a valid value for type '_Bool' Zero-initializing kexec_buf at declaration ensures all fields are cleanly set, preventing future instances of uninitialized memory being used. An initial fix was already landed for arm64[0], and this patchset fixes the problem on the remaining arm64 code and on riscv, as raised by Mark. Discussions about this problem could be found at[1][2]. This patch (of 3): The kexec_buf structure was previously declared without initialization. commit bf454ec31add ("kexec_file: allow to place kexec_buf randomly") added a field that is always read but not consistently populated by all architectures. This un-initialized field will contain garbage. This is also triggering a UBSAN warning when the uninitialized data was accessed: ------------[ cut here ]------------ UBSAN: invalid-load in ./include/linux/kexec.h:210:10 load of value 252 is not a valid value for type '_Bool' Zero-initializing kexec_buf at declaration ensures all fields are cleanly set, preventing future instances of uninitialized memory being used.

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2025-10-01	—	0.02%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2025-10-01

—

0.02%

—

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability	Impact	Score source
5.5	3.1	MEDIUM	`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:L) They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by. Attack complexity (AC:L) Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup. Privileges required (PR:L) A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin. User interaction (UI:N) Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping. Scope (S:U) Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems. Confidentiality (C:N) Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way. Integrity (I:N) Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged. Availability (A:H) Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.	1.8	3.6	[email protected]
5.5	3.1	MEDIUM	`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:L) They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by. Attack complexity (AC:L) Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup. Privileges required (PR:L) A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin. User interaction (UI:N) Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping. Scope (S:U) Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems. Confidentiality (C:N) Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way. Integrity (I:N) Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged. Availability (A:H) Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.	1.8	3.6	134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

Base score

Version

Severity

Vector

Exploitability

Impact

Score source

5.5

3.1

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand

Attack vector (AV:L): They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L): Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L): A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N): Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U): Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N): Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N): Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H): Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.

1.8

3.6

[email protected]

5.5

3.1

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand

Attack vector (AV:L): They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L): Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L): A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N): Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U): Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N): Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N): Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H): Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.

1.8

3.6

134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-39904

vendor	priority	summary	link
`debian`	unimportant	CVE-2025-39904 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-2025-39904
`redhat`	—	—	https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-39904
`suse`	medium	CVE-2025-39904 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-2025-39904/
`ubuntu`	medium	CVE-2025-39904 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 159, not-affected 148, released 88, needs-triage 2.	https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-39904

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-39904

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
linux	linux_kernel	>= 6.16, < 6.16.8	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::::::
linux	linux_kernel	6.17	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.17:rc5::::::

References for CVE-2025-39904

URL	Tags
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/04d3cd43700a2d0fe4bfb1012a8ec7f2e34a3507	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/340cc9a3bd30b25edaf6a9708d41b5f2c10a054a	Patch

URL

CVE-2025-39904 | arm64: kexec: initialize kexec_buf struct in load_other_segments()

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2025-39904

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-39904

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-39904

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-39904

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-39904

References for CVE-2025-39904