CVE-2025-39684
- Published: 2025-09-05T18:15:45.020
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
comedi: Fix use of uninitialized memory in do_insn_ioctl() and do_insnlist_ioctl()
syzbot reports a KMSAN kernel-infoleak in `do_insn_ioctl()`. A kernel
buffer is allocated to hold `insn->n` samples (each of which is an
`unsigned int`). For some instruction types, `insn->n` samples are
copied back to user-space, unless an error code is being returned. The
problem is that not all the instruction handlers that need to return
data to userspace fill in the whole `insn->n` samples, so that there is
an information leak. There is a similar syzbot report for
`do_insnlist_ioctl()`, although it does not have a reproducer for it at
the time of writing.
One culprit is `insn_rw_emulate_bits()` which is used as the handler for
`INSN_READ` or `INSN_WRITE` instructions for subdevices that do not have
a specific handler for that instruction, but do have an `INSN_BITS`
handler. For `INSN_READ` it only fills in at most 1 sample, so if
`insn->n` is greater than 1, the remaining `insn->n – 1` samples copied
to userspace will be uninitialized kernel data.
Another culprit is `vm80xx_ai_insn_read()` in the “vm80xx” driver. It
never returns an error, even if it fails to fill the buffer.
Fix it in `do_insn_ioctl()` and `do_insnlist_ioctl()` by making sure
that uninitialized parts of the allocated buffer are zeroed before
handling each instruction.
Thanks to Arnaud Lecomte for their fix to `do_insn_ioctl()`. That fix
replaced the call to `kmalloc_array()` with `kcalloc()`, but it is not
always necessary to clear the whole buffer.
Related CVE by CWE
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How to fix CVE-2025-39684
Description: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: comedi: Fix use of uninitialized memory in do_insn_ioctl() and do_insnlist_ioctl() syzbot reports a KMSAN kernel-infoleak in `do_insn_ioctl()`. A kernel buffer is allocated to hold `insn->n` samples (each of which is an `unsigned int`). For some instruction types, `insn->n` samples are copied back to user-space, unless […]
Exploit Difficulty: HARD
⏱️ Time to exploit: > 4 hours
🛠️ Required skills: Advanced security expertise
💰 Public exploits: Rare or not public
How to Fix:
- Check if you're running the affected product
- Update to the latest patched version
- If patching is not immediately possible: restrict network exposure, apply least-privilege access
- Test the fix in a staging environment first
- Review logs for signs of exploitation
- Monitor for IOCs (Indicators of Compromise)
- Enable automatic security updates
- Set up vulnerability monitoring
- Review and harden security configurations
Exploit Difficulty Assessment
Vulnerability Timeline
CVE details first published to NVD database
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Detection Rules & IOCs
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No vendor/product data available.