Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-39877

Memory Safety in Linux Kernel 5.18 – 6.1.153

Published
23 September 2025
Modified
20 January 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 0.0014 4th percentile
Risk Priority 55 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-39877 is a high-severity Use After Free (CWE-416) vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).

Operationally, ranked at the 4th 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 SI-16 (Memory Protection) and AC-3 (Access Enforcement) — 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: mm/damon/sysfs: fix use-after-free in state_show() state_show() reads kdamond->damon_ctx without holding damon_sysfs_lock. This allows a use-after-free race: CPU 0 CPU 1 ----- ----- state_show() damon_sysfs_turn_damon_on() ctx = kdamond->damon_ctx; mutex_lock(&damon_sysfs_lock); damon_destroy_ctx(kdamond->damon_ctx); kdamond->damon_ctx…

more

= NULL; mutex_unlock(&damon_sysfs_lock); damon_is_running(ctx); /* ctx is freed */ mutex_lock(&ctx->kdamond_lock); /* UAF */ (The race can also occur with damon_sysfs_kdamonds_rm_dirs() and damon_sysfs_kdamond_release(), which free or replace the context under damon_sysfs_lock.) Fix by taking damon_sysfs_lock before dereferencing the context, mirroring the locking used in pid_show(). The bug has existed since state_show() first accessed kdamond->damon_ctx.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-38578Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-37885Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2024-26689Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2024-35867Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-39826Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-39689Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2024-42314Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2024-26598Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2023-52572Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-38476Same product: Debian Debian Linux

Affected Assets

linux
linux kernel
6.17 · 5.18 — 6.1.153 · 6.2 — 6.6.107 · 6.7 — 6.12.48
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

prevent

Directly requires memory protection mechanisms that block use-after-free accesses to freed damon_ctx objects.

prevent

Enforces process/thread isolation boundaries that limit the blast radius of the kdamond ctx race.

prevent

Requires enforcement of proper synchronization (damon_sysfs_lock) before accessing shared kernel objects.

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.

detects

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.

References