Vulnerability in Linux

CVE-2025-40169

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf: Reject negative offsets for ALU ops When verifying BPF programs, the check_alu_op() function validates instructions with ALU operations. The 'offset' field in these instructions is a signed 16-bit integer. The existing check 'insn->off > 1' was intended to ensure the offset is either 0, or 1 for BPF_MOD/BPF_DIV. However, because 'insn->off' is signed, this check incorrectly accepts all negative values (e.g., -1). This commit tightens the validation by changing the condition to '(insn->off != 0 && insn->off != 1)'. This ensures that any value other than the explicitly permitted 0 and 1 is rejected, hardening the verifier against malformed BPF programs.

EPSS: 0.001 (4.2th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.8 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

Affected products

  • Linux — versions ec0e2da95f72d4a46050a4d994e4fe471474fd80, 6.6, 0

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2025-40169?
CVE-2025-40169 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux. CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2025-11-12.
How severe is CVE-2025-40169?
High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.