CVE-2025-39966 | iommufd: Fix race during abort for file descriptors

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: iommufd: Fix race during abort for file descriptors fput() doesn't actually call file_operations release() synchronously, it puts the file on a work queue and it will be released eventually. This is normally fine, except for iommufd the file and the iommufd_object are tied to gether. The file has the object as it's private_data and holds a users refcount, while the object is expected to remain alive as long as the file is. When the allocation of a new object aborts before installing the file it will fput() the file and then go on to immediately kfree() the obj. This causes a UAF once the workqueue completes the fput() and tries to decrement the users refcount. Fix this by putting the core code in charge of the file lifetime, and call __fput_sync() during abort to ensure that release() is called before kfree. __fput_sync() is a bit too tricky to open code in all the object implementations. Instead the objects tell the core code where the file pointer is and the core will take care of the life cycle. If the object is successfully allocated then the file will hold a users refcount and the iommufd_object cannot be destroyed. It is worth noting that close(); ioctl(IOMMU_DESTROY); doesn't have an issue because close() is already using a synchronous version of fput(). The UAF looks like this: BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in iommufd_eventq_fops_release+0x45/0xc0 drivers/iommu/iommufd/eventq.c:376 Write of size 4 at addr ffff888059c97804 by task syz.0.46/6164 CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 6164 Comm: syz.0.46 Not tainted syzkaller #0 PREEMPT(full) Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 08/18/2025 Call Trace: <TASK> __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:94 [inline] dump_stack_lvl+0x116/0x1f0 lib/dump_stack.c:120 print_address_description mm/kasan/report.c:378 [inline] print_report+0xcd/0x630 mm/kasan/report.c:482 kasan_report+0xe0/0x110 mm/kasan/report.c:595 check_region_inline mm/kasan/generic.c:183 [inline] kasan_check_range+0x100/0x1b0 mm/kasan/generic.c:189 instrument_atomic_read_write include/linux/instrumented.h:96 [inline] atomic_fetch_sub_release include/linux/atomic/atomic-instrumented.h:400 [inline] __refcount_dec include/linux/refcount.h:455 [inline] refcount_dec include/linux/refcount.h:476 [inline] iommufd_eventq_fops_release+0x45/0xc0 drivers/iommu/iommufd/eventq.c:376 __fput+0x402/0xb70 fs/file_table.c:468 task_work_run+0x14d/0x240 kernel/task_work.c:227 resume_user_mode_work include/linux/resume_user_mode.h:50 [inline] exit_to_user_mode_loop+0xeb/0x110 kernel/entry/common.c:43 exit_to_user_mode_prepare include/linux/irq-entry-common.h:225 [inline] syscall_exit_to_user_mode_work include/linux/entry-common.h:175 [inline] syscall_exit_to_user_mode include/linux/entry-common.h:210 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x41c/0x4c0 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:100 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f

Published: 2025-10-15 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-39966 is rated Low Risk (28.4/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.10%). 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.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2025-39966

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 2026-06-15 0.02% 0.10% +0.08%
2 2025-10-15 0.02%

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-39966

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.0 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
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:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
1.0 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-39966

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-39966

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2025-39966 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-2025-39966
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-39966
suse medium CVE-2025-39966 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-2025-39966/
ubuntu medium CVE-2025-39966 medium priority: Ubuntu including 157 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1405 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1010, ignored 177, not-affected 120, released 93, needed 3, needs-triage 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-39966

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-39966

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 6.11, < 6.12.50 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.13, < 6.16.10 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:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.17 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.17:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.17 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.17:rc7:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2025-39966

cvelogic Threat Intelligence