Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-39824

Memory Safety in Linux Kernel 4.10 – 5.4.298

Published
16 September 2025
Modified
12 May 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0016 6th percentile
Risk Priority 55 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2025-39824 is a high-severity Use After Free (CWE-416) vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Client Execution (T1203); ranked at the 6th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SA-8 (Security and Privacy Engineering Principles) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: HID: asus: fix UAF via HID_CLAIMED_INPUT validation After hid_hw_start() is called hidinput_connect() will eventually be called to set up the device with the input layer since the HID_CONNECT_DEFAULT connect mask…

more

is used. During hidinput_connect() all input and output reports are processed and corresponding hid_inputs are allocated and configured via hidinput_configure_usages(). This process involves slot tagging report fields and configuring usages by setting relevant bits in the capability bitmaps. However it is possible that the capability bitmaps are not set at all leading to the subsequent hidinput_has_been_populated() check to fail leading to the freeing of the hid_input and the underlying input device. This becomes problematic because a malicious HID device like a ASUS ROG N-Key keyboard can trigger the above scenario via a specially crafted descriptor which then leads to a user-after-free when the name of the freed input device is written to later on after hid_hw_start(). Below, report 93 intentionally utilises the HID_UP_UNDEFINED Usage Page which is skipped during usage configuration, leading to the frees. 0x05, 0x0D, // Usage Page (Digitizer) 0x09, 0x05, // Usage (Touch Pad) 0xA1, 0x01, // Collection (Application) 0x85, 0x0D, // Report ID (13) 0x06, 0x00, 0xFF, // Usage Page (Vendor Defined 0xFF00) 0x09, 0xC5, // Usage (0xC5) 0x15, 0x00, // Logical Minimum (0) 0x26, 0xFF, 0x00, // Logical Maximum (255) 0x75, 0x08, // Report Size (8) 0x95, 0x04, // Report Count (4) 0xB1, 0x02, // Feature (Data,Var,Abs) 0x85, 0x5D, // Report ID (93) 0x06, 0x00, 0x00, // Usage Page (Undefined) 0x09, 0x01, // Usage (0x01) 0x15, 0x00, // Logical Minimum (0) 0x26, 0xFF, 0x00, // Logical Maximum (255) 0x75, 0x08, // Report Size (8) 0x95, 0x1B, // Report Count (27) 0x81, 0x02, // Input (Data,Var,Abs) 0xC0, // End Collection Below is the KASAN splat after triggering the UAF: [ 21.672709] ================================================================== [ 21.673700] BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in asus_probe+0xeeb/0xf80 [ 21.673700] Write of size 8 at addr ffff88810a0ac000 by task kworker/1:2/54 [ 21.673700] [ 21.673700] CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 54 Comm: kworker/1:2 Not tainted 6.16.0-rc4-g9773391cf4dd-dirty #36 PREEMPT(voluntary) [ 21.673700] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.16.2-debian-1.16.2-1 04/01/2014 [ 21.673700] Call Trace: [ 21.673700] <TASK> [ 21.673700] dump_stack_lvl+0x5f/0x80 [ 21.673700] print_report+0xd1/0x660 [ 21.673700] kasan_report+0xe5/0x120 [ 21.673700] __asan_report_store8_noabort+0x1b/0x30 [ 21.673700] asus_probe+0xeeb/0xf80 [ 21.673700] hid_device_probe+0x2ee/0x700 [ 21.673700] really_probe+0x1c6/0x6b0 [ 21.673700] __driver_probe_device+0x24f/0x310 [ 21.673700] driver_probe_device+0x4e/0x220 [...] [ 21.673700] [ 21.673700] Allocated by task 54: [ 21.673700] kasan_save_stack+0x3d/0x60 [ 21.673700] kasan_save_track+0x18/0x40 [ 21.673700] kasan_save_alloc_info+0x3b/0x50 [ 21.673700] __kasan_kmalloc+0x9c/0xa0 [ 21.673700] __kmalloc_cache_noprof+0x139/0x340 [ 21.673700] input_allocate_device+0x44/0x370 [ 21.673700] hidinput_connect+0xcb6/0x2630 [ 21.673700] hid_connect+0xf74/0x1d60 [ 21.673700] hid_hw_start+0x8c/0x110 [ 21.673700] asus_probe+0x5a3/0xf80 [ 21.673700] hid_device_probe+0x2ee/0x700 [ 21.673700] really_probe+0x1c6/0x6b0 [ 21.673700] __driver_probe_device+0x24f/0x310 [ 21.673700] driver_probe_device+0x4e/0x220 [...] [ 21.673700] [ 21.673700] Freed by task 54: [ 21.673700] kasan_save_stack+0x3d/0x60 [ 21.673700] kasan_save_track+0x18/0x40 [ 21.673700] kasan_save_free_info+0x3f/0x60 [ 21.673700] __kasan_slab_free+0x3c/0x50 [ 21.673700] kfre ---truncated---

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

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CVE-2025-38350Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-38212Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2024-35854Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2024-47730Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2024-49960Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-37849Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-38323Same product: Debian Debian Linux

Affected Assets

linux
linux kernel
6.17 · 4.10 — 5.4.298 · 5.5 — 5.10.242 · 5.11 — 5.15.191
debian
debian linux
11.0

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 3 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.4.3

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation can discover use-after-free bugs through dynamic analysis or fuzzing.

Engineering principles can require memory-safe constructs or languages that structurally avoid introducing use-after-free.

Process isolation confines the blast radius of use-after-free memory corruption to a single execution domain.

Memory protection controls limit exploitation impact by blocking unauthorized code execution from dangling pointers.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly incorporate memory-safety tooling and reviews that prevent most use-after-free defects.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability identification processes can discover use-after-free issues via scanning or analysis but do not prevent their introduction.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Routine patching removes known use-after-free instances after they have been introduced in released software.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

finds

Security testing in development can detect use-after-free bugs before release.

prevents

Secure SDLC mandates memory-safety practices that reduce use-after-free defects.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify memory-management rules that mitigate use-after-free.

prevents

Secure architecture principles include memory-safety design choices that limit use-after-free exposure.

prevents

Secure coding standards directly prescribe avoidance of use-after-free patterns.

prevents

Change-management processes help ensure memory-safety fixes are deployed consistently.

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Oracle Linux 8 (1 rule)
  • V-248592 OL 8 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. prevents CWE-416
RHEL 8 (1 rule)
  • V-230279 RHEL 8 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. prevents CWE-416
RHEL 9 (1 rule)
  • V-257794 RHEL 9 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. prevents CWE-416

References