CVE-2025-39852
- Published: 2025-09-19T16:15:44.090
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
net/tcp: Fix socket memory leak in TCP-AO failure handling for IPv6
When tcp_ao_copy_all_matching() fails in tcp_v6_syn_recv_sock() it just
exits the function. This ends up causing a memory-leak:
unreferenced object 0xffff0000281a8200 (size 2496):
comm “softirq”, pid 0, jiffies 4295174684
hex dump (first 32 bytes):
7f 00 00 06 7f 00 00 06 00 00 00 00 cb a8 88 13 …………….
0a 00 03 61 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 …a…………
backtrace (crc 5ebdbe15):
kmemleak_alloc+0x44/0xe0
kmem_cache_alloc_noprof+0x248/0x470
sk_prot_alloc+0x48/0x120
sk_clone_lock+0x38/0x3b0
inet_csk_clone_lock+0x34/0x150
tcp_create_openreq_child+0x3c/0x4a8
tcp_v6_syn_recv_sock+0x1c0/0x620
tcp_check_req+0x588/0x790
tcp_v6_rcv+0x5d0/0xc18
ip6_protocol_deliver_rcu+0x2d8/0x4c0
ip6_input_finish+0x74/0x148
ip6_input+0x50/0x118
ip6_sublist_rcv+0x2fc/0x3b0
ipv6_list_rcv+0x114/0x170
__netif_receive_skb_list_core+0x16c/0x200
netif_receive_skb_list_internal+0x1f0/0x2d0
This is because in tcp_v6_syn_recv_sock (and the IPv4 counterpart), when
exiting upon error, inet_csk_prepare_forced_close() and tcp_done() need
to be called. They make sure the newsk will end up being correctly
free’d.
tcp_v4_syn_recv_sock() makes this very clear by having the put_and_exit
label that takes care of things. So, this patch here makes sure
tcp_v4_syn_recv_sock and tcp_v6_syn_recv_sock have similar
error-handling and thus fixes the leak for TCP-AO.
Related CVE by CWE
No related CWE found.
Top CVE for Vendor
No vendor taxonomy on this entry.
Recently Exploited Similar Vulnerabilities
No recent KEV-listed items for this vendor/product.
How to fix CVE-2025-39852
Description: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/tcp: Fix socket memory leak in TCP-AO failure handling for IPv6 When tcp_ao_copy_all_matching() fails in tcp_v6_syn_recv_sock() it just exits the function. This ends up causing a memory-leak: unreferenced object 0xffff0000281a8200 (size 2496): comm “softirq”, pid 0, jiffies 4295174684 hex dump (first 32 bytes): 7f 00 […]
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
Added to this CVE tracking system
Detection Rules & IOCs
No specific detection rules generated for this vulnerability type.
No vendor/product data available.