What is CVE-2020-25285?

CVE-2020-25285 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux Kernel, classified under Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization (Race Condition). CVSS score: 6.4/10. Published 2020-09-13.

How severe is CVE-2020-25285?

Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 6.4 out of 10.

NULL pointer dereference in Linux Kernel

CVE-2020-25285

A race condition between hugetlb sysctl handlers in mm/hugetlb.c in the Linux kernel before 5.8.8 could be used by local attackers to corrupt memory, cause a NULL pointer dereference, or possibly have unspecified other impact, aka CID-17743798d812.

Vulnerability class: Race Condition

Published 2020-09-13 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 6.4 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.003 (17.7th percentile), scored 2026-10-01.

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 18th percentile — 17.7% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.003 · newest: 0.003 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Linux Kernel
Canonical Ubuntu Linux — versions 14.04, 16.04, 18.04
Debian Linux — versions 9.0

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/ (Patch, Vendor Advisory)
twitter.com/grsecurity/status/1303749848898904067 (Third Party Advisory)
cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v5.x/ChangeLog-5.8.8 (Release Notes, Vendor Advisory)
lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/09/msg00025.html (mailing-list, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20201009-0002/ (Third Party Advisory)
usn.ubuntu.com/4576-1/ (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)
usn.ubuntu.com/4579-1/ (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)
lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/10/msg00032.html (mailing-list, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/10/msg00034.html (mailing-list, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2020-25285?: CVE-2020-25285 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux Kernel, classified under Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization (Race Condition). CVSS score: 6.4/10. Published 2020-09-13.
How severe is CVE-2020-25285?: Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 6.4 out of 10.