Vulnerability · Published Oct 28, 2025 · Assigned by Linux

CVE-2025-40040mm/ksm: fix flag-dropping behavior in ksm_madvise

High 7.8

In plain English

A high-severity security flaw in Linux from Linux. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.4% (higher than 32% of all known vulnerabilities). Ready-made attack tooling exists: public proof-of-concept code. Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS 3.1)7.8High
Exploit odds (30 days)0.4%top 68.2% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: none
Attack tooling1Public PoC

Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/ksm: fix flag-dropping behavior in ksm_madvise syzkaller discovered the following crash: (kernel BUG) [ 44.607039] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 44.607422] kernel BUG at mm/userfaultfd.c:2067! [ 44.608148] Oops: invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] SMP DEBUG_PAGEALLOC KASAN NOPTI [ 44.608814] CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 2475 Comm: reproducer Not tainted 6.16.0-rc6 #1 PREEMPT(none) [ 44.609635] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.16.3-0-ga6ed6b701f0a-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 [ 44.610695] RIP: 0010:userfaultfd_release_all+0x3a8/0x460 <snip other registers, drop unreliable trace> [ 44.617726] Call Trace: [ 44.617926] <TASK> [ 44.619284] userfaultfd_release+0xef/0x1b0 [ 44.620976] __fput+0x3f9/0xb60 [ 44.621240] fput_close_sync+0x110/0x210 [ 44.622222] __x64_sys_close+0x8f/0x120 [ 44.622530] do_syscall_64+0x5b/0x2f0 [ 44.622840] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e [ 44.623244] RIP: 0033:0x7f365bb3f227 Kernel panics because it detects UFFD inconsistency during userfaultfd_release_all(). Specifically, a VMA which has a valid pointer to vma->vm_userfaultfd_ctx, but no UFFD flags in vma->vm_flags. The inconsistency is caused in ksm_madvise(): when user calls madvise() with MADV_UNMEARGEABLE on a VMA that is registered for UFFD in MINOR mode, it accidentally clears all flags stored in the upper 32 bits of vma->vm_flags. Assuming x86_64 kernel build, unsigned long is 64-bit and unsigned int and int are 32-bit wide. This setup causes the following mishap during the &= ~VM_MERGEABLE assignment. VM_MERGEABLE is a 32-bit constant of type unsigned int, 0x8000'0000. After ~ is applied, it becomes 0x7fff'ffff unsigned int, which is then promoted to unsigned long before the & operation. This promotion fills upper 32 bits with leading 0s, as we're doing unsigned conversion (and even for a signed conversion, this wouldn't help as the leading bit is 0). & operation thus ends up AND-ing vm_flags with 0x0000'0000'7fff'ffff instead of intended 0xffff'ffff'7fff'ffff and hence accidentally clears the upper 32-bits of its value. Fix it by changing `VM_MERGEABLE` constant to unsigned long, using the BIT() macro. Note: other VM_* flags are not affected: This only happens to the VM_MERGEABLE flag, as the other VM_* flags are all constants of type int and after ~ operation, they end up with leading 1 and are thus converted to unsigned long with leading 1s. Note 2: After commit 31defc3b01d9 ("userfaultfd: remove (VM_)BUG_ON()s"), this is no longer a kernel BUG, but a WARNING at the same place: [ 45.595973] WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 2474 at mm/userfaultfd.c:2067 but the root-cause (flag-drop) remains the same. [akpm@linux-foundation.org: rust bindgen wasn't able to handle BIT(), from Miguel]

Affected packages & fixed versions

EcosystemPackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian:12linux6.1.158-1DEBIAN-CVE-2025-40040
Debian:13linux6.12.57-1DEBIAN-CVE-2025-40040
Debian:14linux6.17.6-1DEBIAN-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux5.15.0-173.183USN-8096-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux5.15.0-173.183UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinuxno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:25.10linux6.17.0-14.14UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:25.10linux6.17.0-14.14USN-8029-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-allwinner-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws5.15.0-1103.110USN-8096-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws5.15.0-1103.110UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-awsno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:25.10linux-aws6.17.0-1007.7UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:25.10linux-aws6.17.0-1007.7USN-8029-2
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.176.17.0-1007.7~24.04.1UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.8no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure5.15.0-1109.118UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azureno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:25.10linux-azure6.17.0-1008.8USN-8029-3
Ubuntu:25.10linux-azure6.17.0-1008.8UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.8no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde5.15.0-1109.118.1UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-fdeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:25.10linux-azure-fdeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-6.17no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-6.8no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-nvidiano fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-nvidia-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp5.15.0-1103.112UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp5.15.0-1103.112USN-8096-1
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gcpno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:25.10linux-gcp6.17.0-1007.7UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:25.10linux-gcp6.17.0-1007.7USN-8030-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.176.17.0-1008.8~24.04.1UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.8no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gke5.15.0-1099.105USN-8096-3
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gke5.15.0-1099.105UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gkeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gkeop5.15.0-1086.94USN-8096-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gkeop5.15.0-1086.94UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gkeopno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.8no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-ibm5.15.0-1097.100UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-ibm5.15.0-1097.100USN-8096-1
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-ibmno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-ibm-6.8no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-intel-iot-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-intel-iotg5.15.0-1098.104UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-intel-iotg5.15.0-1098.104USN-8096-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-kvm5.15.0-1095.100USN-8096-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-kvm5.15.0-1095.100UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency5.15.0-173.183USN-8096-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency5.15.0-173.183UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-lowlatencyno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.8no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia5.15.0-1098.99USN-8096-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia5.15.0-1098.99UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-nvidiano fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.176.17.0-1008.8UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.8no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-lowlatencyno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-tegra5.15.0-1055.55USN-8096-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-tegra5.15.0-1055.55UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-tegra6.8.0-1035.38UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-tegra-igx5.15.0-1044.44USN-8096-5
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-tegra-igx5.15.0-1044.44UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-5.17no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.0no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.1no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.176.17.0-1011.11UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.176.17.0-1011.11USN-8048-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.8no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracle5.15.0-1100.106UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracle5.15.0-1100.106USN-8096-1
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oracleno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:25.10linux-oracle6.17.0-1007.7UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:25.10linux-oracle6.17.0-1007.7USN-8029-2
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oracle-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oracle-6.176.17.0-1007.7~24.04.1UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracle-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracle-6.8no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-raspi5.15.0-1097.100UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-raspino fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:25.10linux-raspi6.17.0-1008.8USN-8029-1
Ubuntu:25.10linux-raspi6.17.0-1008.8UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-raspi-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:25.10linux-realtime6.17.0-1006.7USN-8029-1
Ubuntu:25.10linux-realtime6.17.0-1006.7UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:25.10linux-riscv6.17.0-14.14.1UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-riscv-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-6.8no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-vmwareno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-xilinxno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-xilinx-zynqmp5.15.0-1067.71USN-8096-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-xilinx-zynqmp5.15.0-1067.71UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40040

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
Linux Linux 63c17fb8e5a46a16e10e82005748837fd11a2024 – before 850f1ea245bdc0ce6a3fd36bfb80d8cf9647cb7163c17fb8e5a46a16e10e82005748837fd11a2024 – before 788e5385d0ff69cdba1cabccb9dab8d9647b923963c17fb8e5a46a16e10e82005748837fd11a2024 – before b69f19244c2b6475c8a6eb72f0fb0d53509e48cd63c17fb8e5a46a16e10e82005748837fd11a2024 – before 41cb9fd904fe0c39d52e82dd84dc3c96b7aa969363c17fb8e5a46a16e10e82005748837fd11a2024 – before 92b82e232b8d8b116ac6e57aeae7a6033db92c6063c17fb8e5a46a16e10e82005748837fd11a2024 – before ac50c6e0a8f91a02b681af81abb2362fbb67cc1863c17fb8e5a46a16e10e82005748837fd11a2024 – before 76385629f45740b7888f8fcd83bde955b10f61fe63c17fb8e5a46a16e10e82005748837fd11a2024 – before f04aad36a07cc17b7a5d5b9a2d386ce6fae63e93
Linux Linux 4.6

References