Vulnerability in Kernel (CVE-2025-39904)

Summary

Vulnerability in Kernel (CVE-2025-39904). Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure. Mitigation: upgrade to 6.16.8 or later.

Original description

The description as published by the source.

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

arm64: kexec: initialize kexec_buf struct in load_other_segments()

Patch series "kexec: Fix invalid field access".

The kexec_buf structure was previously declared without initialization.
commit bf454ec31add ("kexec_file: allow to place kexec_buf randomly")
added a field that is always read but not consistently populated by all
architectures. This un-initialized field will contain garbage.

This is also triggering a UBSAN warning when the uninitialized data was
accessed:

------------[ cut here ]------------
UBSAN: invalid-load in ./include/linux/kexec.h:210:10
load of value 252 is not a valid value for type '_Bool'

Zero-initializing kexec_buf at declaration ensures all fields are cleanly
set, preventing future instances of uninitialized memory being used.

An initial fix was already landed for arm64[0], and this patchset fixes
the problem on the remaining arm64 code and on riscv, as raised by Mark.

Discussions about this problem could be found at[1][2].

This patch (of 3):

The kexec_buf structure was previously declared without initialization.
commit bf454ec31add ("kexec_file: allow to place kexec_buf randomly")
added a field that is always read but not consistently populated by all
architectures. This un-initialized field will contain garbage.

This is also triggering a UBSAN warning when the uninitialized data was
accessed:

------------[ cut here ]------------
UBSAN: invalid-load in ./include/…

Source: OSV.dev (Open Source Vulnerabilities) NVD OSV

Auto-generated summary

Assembled by SecPulse from the source data (CVSS, CWE, affected versions) using templates — no AI involved. Check the original description and references below for exact details.

A vulnerability tracked as CVE-2025-39904 has been found in Kernel.
Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure.
What to do: upgrade Kernel to 6.16.8 or later.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "Kernel CVE-2025-39904" on the vendor's site.

CVE-2025-39904 (Kernel)
Attack vector: local / no user interaction
Patched: 6.16.8 — apply immediately
Plan: 1) Audit SBOM/dependencies, 2) Stage→prod upgrade, 3) Add WAF/proxy monitoring on affected endpoints, 4) Hunt IOCs in logs.
Refs: see the GHSA / vendor advisory / patched release linked on this page.

❓ What is the problem

A vulnerability (unclassified) exists in Kernel.

📍 Affected scope

Check the vendor advisory for the affected versions of Kernel.

🔥 Severity

Severity: ?. Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure.

🔧 How to fix

Update to 6.16.8.

🛡️ Workaround

Until the patch is applied: disable the affected feature, apply WAF rules, or restrict access via network ACLs.

🔍 Detection

Search webserver/proxy logs for unusual request patterns matching this CVE's known IOCs. Run grep -r 'Kernel' . against your dependency files (package-lock.json, requirements.txt, go.sum) to find affected services.

Response actions

Concrete steps and command examples for SOC/SRE teams to execute in order

1
Identify exposure identify
```
grep -r 'Kernel' . | grep -v node_modules
```
リポジトリと本番環境の依存ファイル (package-lock.json / requirements.txt / go.sum / Gemfile.lock 等) で Kernel を grep し、稼働しているサービス・バージョンを把握する。
2
Apply patch patch
```
Upgrade Kernel to 6.16.8
```
ステージング環境で 6.16.8 に上げて回帰テスト → 本番反映。回帰テストはアプリの主要ハッピーパスを含めること。
3
Post-deployment verification verify
```
Confirm patched version is live in production
```
パッチ適用後、ステージングで PoC または同等の悪用パターンを再現して脆弱性が閉じたことを確認。本番ではアクセスログ・WAF でアラート再発が無いか継続監視。

Affected packages

Linux Kernel

[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"6.16.0"},{"fixed":"6.16.8"}]}]

Fix status by distribution

Fixed packages published by each distribution for this CVE

BellSoft Alpaquita BELL-CVE-2025-39904 linux-lts Fixed in: 6.18.35-r1
Debian DEBIAN-CVE-2025-39904 linux Fixed in: 6.16.8-1
Ubuntu UBUNTU-CVE-2025-39904 linux-hwe-edge