Vulnerability · Published Dec 4, 2025 · Assigned by Linux

CVE-2025-40214af_unix: Initialise scc_index in unix_add_edge().

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 0.2% (higher than 9% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS 3.1)7.8High
Exploit odds (30 days)0.2%top 91.1% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsnot in CISA KEV
Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: af_unix: Initialise scc_index in unix_add_edge(). Quang Le reported that the AF_UNIX GC could garbage-collect a receive queue of an alive in-flight socket, with a nice repro. The repro consists of three stages. 1) 1-a. Create a single cyclic reference with many sockets 1-b. close() all sockets 1-c. Trigger GC 2) 2-a. Pass sk-A to an embryo sk-B 2-b. Pass sk-X to sk-X 2-c. Trigger GC 3) 3-a. accept() the embryo sk-B 3-b. Pass sk-B to sk-C 3-c. close() the in-flight sk-A 3-d. Trigger GC As of 2-c, sk-A and sk-X are linked to unix_unvisited_vertices, and unix_walk_scc() groups them into two different SCCs: unix_sk(sk-A)->vertex->scc_index = 2 (UNIX_VERTEX_INDEX_START) unix_sk(sk-X)->vertex->scc_index = 3 Once GC completes, unix_graph_grouped is set to true. Also, unix_graph_maybe_cyclic is set to true due to sk-X's cyclic self-reference, which makes close() trigger GC. At 3-b, unix_add_edge() allocates unix_sk(sk-B)->vertex and links it to unix_unvisited_vertices. unix_update_graph() is called at 3-a. and 3-b., but neither unix_graph_grouped nor unix_graph_maybe_cyclic is changed because both sk-B's listener and sk-C are not in-flight. 3-c decrements sk-A's file refcnt to 1. Since unix_graph_grouped is true at 3-d, unix_walk_scc_fast() is finally called and iterates 3 sockets sk-A, sk-B, and sk-X: sk-A -> sk-B (-> sk-C) sk-X -> sk-X This is totally fine. All of them are not yet close()d and should be grouped into different SCCs. However, unix_vertex_dead() misjudges that sk-A and sk-B are in the same SCC and sk-A is dead. unix_sk(sk-A)->scc_index == unix_sk(sk-B)->scc_index <-- Wrong! && sk-A's file refcnt == unix_sk(sk-A)->vertex->out_degree ^-- 1 in-flight count for sk-B -> sk-A is dead !? The problem is that unix_add_edge() does not initialise scc_index. Stage 1) is used for heap spraying, making a newly allocated vertex have vertex->scc_index == 2 (UNIX_VERTEX_INDEX_START) set by unix_walk_scc() at 1-c. Let's track the max SCC index from the previous unix_walk_scc() call and assign the max + 1 to a new vertex's scc_index. This way, we can continue to avoid Tarjan's algorithm while preventing misjudgments.

Affected packages & fixed versions

EcosystemPackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian:12linux6.1.159-1DEBIAN-CVE-2025-40214
Debian:13linux6.12.63-1DEBIAN-CVE-2025-40214
Debian:14linux6.17.9-1DEBIAN-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:25.10linux6.17.0-12.12USN-8014-1
Ubuntu:25.10linux6.17.0-12.12UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-allwinner-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:25.10linux-aws6.17.0-1006.6UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:25.10linux-aws6.17.0-1006.6USN-8014-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.176.17.0-1007.7~24.04.1UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:25.10linux-azure6.17.0-1007.7UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:25.10linux-azure6.17.0-1007.7USN-8014-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:25.10linux-azure-fdeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-nvidia-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:25.10linux-gcp6.17.0-1006.6USN-8014-1
Ubuntu:25.10linux-gcp6.17.0-1006.6UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.176.17.0-1008.8~24.04.1UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-intel-iot-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.176.17.0-1008.8UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-5.17no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.0no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.1no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.176.17.0-1010.10USN-8014-1
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.176.17.0-1010.10UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.8no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:25.10linux-oracle6.17.0-1006.6UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:25.10linux-oracle6.17.0-1006.6USN-8014-1
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oracle-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oracle-6.176.17.0-1007.7~24.04.1UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracle-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:25.10linux-raspi6.17.0-1007.7USN-8014-1
Ubuntu:25.10linux-raspi6.17.0-1007.7UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-raspi-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:25.10linux-realtime6.17.0-1005.6USN-8014-1
Ubuntu:25.10linux-realtime6.17.0-1005.6UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:25.10linux-riscv6.17.0-12.12.1UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-riscv-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2025-40214

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
Linux Linux adfb68b39b39767d6bfb53e48c4f19c183765686 – before 20003fbb9174121b27bd1da6ebe61542ac4c327dd23802221f6755e104606864067c71af8cdb6788 – before 4cd8d755c7d4f515dd9abf483316aca2f1b7b0f3ad081928a8b0f57f269df999a28087fce6f2b6ce – before db81ad20fd8aef7cc7d536c52ee5ea4c1f979128ad081928a8b0f57f269df999a28087fce6f2b6ce – before 1aa7e40ee850c9053e769957ce6541173891204dad081928a8b0f57f269df999a28087fce6f2b6ce – before 60e6489f8e3b086bd1130ad4450a2c112e8637916.1.141 – before 6.1.1596.6.93 – before 6.6.117
Linux Linux 6.10

References