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Vulnerabilities

Vulnerability · CVE-2025-40040

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…

Published Oct 28, 2025 · catalog updated Oct 15, 2026 · linux kernel

Check if you run it

No confirmed exploitation is on record for CVE-2025-40040. EPSS is 0.38%. Act only if a listed version of linux kernel is installed.

Gaps on this record

  • No version range is stored. A customer cannot check an installed version against this record.
  • No vendor fix or required action is stored. Compare the linked advisory before you change production.
Severity
Medium5.5
Known exploitation
Not in CISA/VulnCheck KEV
EPSS
0.38%
Remediation
Advisory link
Affected products
cpe linux/linux kernel

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 [ 44.617726] Call Trace: [ 44.617926] [ 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

Are you affected?

Enter the version you run. The result uses only the ranges stored on this record.

The check returns affected, not affected, or incomplete. It does not guess a version that is missing from the record.

  • cpe linux/linux kernelversion unspecified

How to fix CVE-2025-40040

What to do

Three questions, each answered from this record only. Confirm the vendor advisory before you patch.

Should you patch?

No confirmed exploitation is on record for CVE-2025-40040. EPSS is 0.38%. Act only if a listed version of linux kernel is installed.

Which versions are affected?

Affected version ranges are not on this record. Compare the installed version with the linked vendor advisory before you change production.

What should an analyst verify?

No weakness class is stored. EPSS 0.38%. There is no CISA KEV listing. No Exploit-DB or Metasploit reference is linked. Use the source links for the original advisory.

Code

The project this record applies to. Exploit listings stay in References.

Timeline

Detection, updates, and resolution for this record.

  1. Oct 28, 2025 · NIST NVD

    Detected

    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: reprodu

  2. Oct 15, 2026 · NIST NVD

    Updated

    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: reprodu

Sources

  • CVE.orgVulnerability recordCVE-2025-40040

    Official CVE identifier

    cve.org
  • FIRST EPSSExploitation probabilityCVE-2025-40040

    30-day exploitation probability 0.4%

    first.org
  • NIST NVDVulnerability recordCVE-2025-40040

    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!

    nvd.nist.gov

References

Freshness

Last verified in this catalog Oct 18, 2026. Significant claims (KEV, EPSS, CVSS, affected ranges) come from the source rows above — open the original publisher for the authoritative advisory.