CVE-2025-40255 | net: core: prevent NULL deref in generic_hwtstamp_ioctl_lower()

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: core: prevent NULL deref in generic_hwtstamp_ioctl_lower() The ethtool tsconfig Netlink path can trigger a null pointer dereference. A call chain such as: tsconfig_prepare_data() -> dev_get_hwtstamp_phylib() -> vlan_hwtstamp_get() -> generic_hwtstamp_get_lower() -> generic_hwtstamp_ioctl_lower() results in generic_hwtstamp_ioctl_lower() being called with kernel_cfg->ifr as NULL. The generic_hwtstamp_ioctl_lower() function does not expect a NULL ifr and dereferences it, leading to a system crash. Fix this by adding a NULL check for kernel_cfg->ifr in generic_hwtstamp_ioctl_lower(). If ifr is NULL, return -EINVAL.

Published: 2025-12-04 Last update: 2026-04-15 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-40255 is rated Low Risk (5.2/100): low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.15%). 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-2025-40255

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% 0.15% +0.14%
2 2025-12-05 0.02%

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-40255

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

No CVSS data in dataset for this CVE.

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-40255

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-40255

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2025-40255 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-2025-40255
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-40255
suse medium CVE-2025-40255 severity moderate: SUSE including 344 source package names (13.2-9.1:libsystemd0-254.23-1.1, 13.2-9.1:libudev1-254.23-1.1, …), 709 product×package rows across 82 product lines (Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/baremetal-os-container, Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/base-os-container, … (82 product lines)): Fixed 258, Known Affected 231, Known Not Affected 195, First Fixed 25. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-40255/
ubuntu medium CVE-2025-40255 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 178, not-affected 112, released 100, needed 5. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-40255

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-40255

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
No affected products in dataset.

References for CVE-2025-40255

cvelogic Threat Intelligence