Vulnerability in Linux

CVE-2025-39994

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: media: tuner: xc5000: Fix use-after-free in xc5000_release The original code uses cancel_delayed_work() in xc5000_release(), which does not guarantee that the delayed work item timer_sleep has fully completed if it was already running. This leads to use-after-free scenarios where xc5000_release() may free the xc5000_priv while timer_sleep is still active and attempts to dereference the xc5000_priv. A typical race condition is illustrated below: CPU 0 (release thread) | CPU 1 (delayed work callback) xc5000_release() | xc5000_do_timer_sleep() cancel_delayed_work() | hybrid_tuner_release_state(priv) | kfree(priv) | | priv = container_of() // UAF Replace cancel_delayed_work() with cancel_delayed_work_sync() to ensure that the timer_sleep is properly canceled before the xc5000_priv memory is deallocated. A deadlock concern was considered: xc5000_release() is called in a process context and is not holding any locks that the timer_sleep work item might also need. Therefore, the use of the _sync() variant is safe here. This bug was initially identified through static analysis. [hverkuil: fix typo in Subject: tunner -> tuner]

EPSS: 0.001 (4.3th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.3 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

Affected products

  • Linux — versions f7a27ff1fb77e114d1059a5eb2ed1cffdc508ce8, 3.16, 0

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2025-39994?
CVE-2025-39994 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux. CVSS score: 7.3/10. Published 2025-10-15.
How severe is CVE-2025-39994?
High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.3 out of 10.