CVE-2025-39903
Unknown
Unknown - Not Provided
BaseFortify
Publication date: 2025-10-01
Last updated on: 2025-12-11
Assigner: kernel.org
Description
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
of_numa: fix uninitialized memory nodes causing kernel panic
When there are memory-only nodes (nodes without CPUs), these nodes are not
properly initialized, causing kernel panic during boot.
of_numa_init
of_numa_parse_cpu_nodes
node_set(nid, numa_nodes_parsed);
of_numa_parse_memory_nodes
In of_numa_parse_cpu_nodes, numa_nodes_parsed gets updated only for nodes
containing CPUs. Memory-only nodes should have been updated in
of_numa_parse_memory_nodes, but they weren't.
Subsequently, when free_area_init() attempts to access NODE_DATA() for
these uninitialized memory nodes, the kernel panics due to NULL pointer
dereference.
This can be reproduced on ARM64 QEMU with 1 CPU and 2 memory nodes:
qemu-system-aarch64 \
-cpu host -nographic \
-m 4G -smp 1 \
-machine virt,accel=kvm,gic-version=3,iommu=smmuv3 \
-object memory-backend-ram,size=2G,id=mem0 \
-object memory-backend-ram,size=2G,id=mem1 \
-numa node,nodeid=0,memdev=mem0 \
-numa node,nodeid=1,memdev=mem1 \
-kernel $IMAGE \
-hda $DISK \
-append "console=ttyAMA0 root=/dev/vda rw earlycon"
[ 0.000000] Booting Linux on physical CPU 0x0000000000 [0x481fd010]
[ 0.000000] Linux version 6.17.0-rc1-00001-gabb4b3daf18c-dirty (yintirui@local) (gcc (GCC) 12.3.1, GNU ld (GNU Binutils) 2.41) #52 SMP PREEMPT Mon Aug 18 09:49:40 CST 2025
[ 0.000000] KASLR enabled
[ 0.000000] random: crng init done
[ 0.000000] Machine model: linux,dummy-virt
[ 0.000000] efi: UEFI not found.
[ 0.000000] earlycon: pl11 at MMIO 0x0000000009000000 (options '')
[ 0.000000] printk: legacy bootconsole [pl11] enabled
[ 0.000000] OF: reserved mem: Reserved memory: No reserved-memory node in the DT
[ 0.000000] NODE_DATA(0) allocated [mem 0xbfffd9c0-0xbfffffff]
[ 0.000000] node 1 must be removed before remove section 23
[ 0.000000] Zone ranges:
[ 0.000000] DMA [mem 0x0000000040000000-0x00000000ffffffff]
[ 0.000000] DMA32 empty
[ 0.000000] Normal [mem 0x0000000100000000-0x000000013fffffff]
[ 0.000000] Movable zone start for each node
[ 0.000000] Early memory node ranges
[ 0.000000] node 0: [mem 0x0000000040000000-0x00000000bfffffff]
[ 0.000000] node 1: [mem 0x00000000c0000000-0x000000013fffffff]
[ 0.000000] Initmem setup node 0 [mem 0x0000000040000000-0x00000000bfffffff]
[ 0.000000] Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 00000000000000a0
[ 0.000000] Mem abort info:
[ 0.000000] ESR = 0x0000000096000004
[ 0.000000] EC = 0x25: DABT (current EL), IL = 32 bits
[ 0.000000] SET = 0, FnV = 0
[ 0.000000] EA = 0, S1PTW = 0
[ 0.000000] FSC = 0x04: level 0 translation fault
[ 0.000000] Data abort info:
[ 0.000000] ISV = 0, ISS = 0x00000004, ISS2 = 0x00000000
[ 0.000000] CM = 0, WnR = 0, TnD = 0, TagAccess = 0
[ 0.000000] GCS = 0, Overlay = 0, DirtyBit = 0, Xs = 0
[ 0.000000] [00000000000000a0] user address but active_mm is swapper
[ 0.000000] Internal error: Oops: 0000000096000004 [#1] SMP
[ 0.000000] Modules linked in:
[ 0.000000] CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 0 Comm: swapper Not tainted 6.17.0-rc1-00001-g760c6dabf762-dirty #54 PREEMPT
[ 0.000000] Hardware name: linux,dummy-virt (DT)
[ 0.000000] pstate: 800000c5 (Nzcv daIF -PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--)
[ 0.000000] pc : free_area_init+0x50c/0xf9c
[ 0.000000] lr : free_area_init+0x5c0/0xf9c
[ 0.000000] sp : ffffa02ca0f33c00
[ 0.000000] x29: ffffa02ca0f33cb0 x28: 0000000000000000 x27: 0000000000000000
[ 0.000000] x26: 4ec4ec4ec4ec4ec5 x25: 00000000000c0000 x24: 00000000000c0000
[ 0.000000] x23: 0000000000040000 x22: 0000000000000000 x21: ffffa02ca0f3b368
[ 0.000000] x20: ffffa02ca14c7b98 x19: 0000000000000000 x18: 0000000000000002
[ 0.000000] x17: 000000000000cacc x16: 0000000000000001 x15: 0000000000000001
[ 0.000000] x14: 0000000080000000 x13: 0000000000000018 x12: 0000000000000002
[ 0.0
---truncated---
CVSS Scores
EPSS Scores
| Probability: | |
| Percentile: |
Meta Information
Affected Vendors & Products
| Vendor | Product | Version / Range |
|---|---|---|
| linux | linux_kernel | From 6.12 (inc) to 6.12.46 (exc) |
| linux | linux_kernel | From 6.13 (inc) to 6.16.6 (exc) |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.17 |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.17 |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.17 |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.17 |
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
CWE
KEV
| CWE ID | Description |
|---|---|
| CWE-476 | The product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is NULL. |
Attack-Flow Graph
AI Powered Q&A
Can you explain this vulnerability to me?
This vulnerability occurs in the Linux kernel's handling of NUMA (Non-Uniform Memory Access) nodes, specifically memory-only nodes that do not have CPUs. These nodes were not properly initialized during boot, causing the kernel to panic due to a NULL pointer dereference when it tries to access data for these uninitialized nodes. Essentially, the kernel crashes during boot because it expects certain memory nodes to be initialized but they are not.
How can this vulnerability impact me? :
This vulnerability can cause the Linux kernel to panic and crash during system boot if the system configuration includes memory-only NUMA nodes. This results in a denial of service, preventing the system from starting properly and potentially causing downtime or loss of availability.
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