CVE-2025-40212 | nfsd: fix refcount leak in nfsd_set_fh_dentry()

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: nfsd: fix refcount leak in nfsd_set_fh_dentry() nfsd exports a "pseudo root filesystem" which is used by NFSv4 to find the various exported filesystems using LOOKUP requests from a known root filehandle. NFSv3 uses the MOUNT protocol to find those exported filesystems and so is not given access to the pseudo root filesystem. If a v3 (or v2) client uses a filehandle from that filesystem, nfsd_set_fh_dentry() will report an error, but still stores the export in "struct svc_fh" even though it also drops the reference (exp_put()). This means that when fh_put() is called an extra reference will be dropped which can lead to use-after-free and possible denial of service. Normal NFS usage will not provide a pseudo-root filehandle to a v3 client. This bug can only be triggered by the client synthesising an incorrect filehandle. To fix this we move the assignments to the svc_fh later, after all possible error cases have been detected.

Published: 2025-11-24 Last update: 2026-04-15 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-40212 is rated Low Risk (15.9/100): low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.05%). Mandatory action: Low composite risk—no urgent action required; patch on your normal maintenance cycle and revisit priority if CVSS or EPSS increases.

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-2025-40212

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 2026-05-04 0.04% 0.05% +0.01%
2 2026-04-22 0.07% 0.04% -0.03%
3 2026-03-26 0.07%

Full EPSS history (4 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-40212

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

No CVSS data in dataset for this CVE.

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-40212

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-40212

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2025-40212 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-2025-40212
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-40212
suse high CVE-2025-40212 severity important: SUSE including 402 source package names (13.2-9.1:libgcrypt20-1.10.3-slfo.1.1_2.1, 13.2-9.1:libip4tc2-1.8.9-4.1, …), 1095 product×package rows across 131 product lines (Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/baremetal-os-container, Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/base-os-container, … (131 product lines)): Fixed 567, Known Not Affected 269, Known Affected 231, First Fixed 28. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-40212/
ubuntu medium CVE-2025-40212 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 176, not-affected 116, released 98, needed 5. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-40212

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-40212

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
No affected products in dataset.

References for CVE-2025-40212

cvelogic Threat Intelligence