Security Resilience

CVE-2025-39892

Memory Safety in Linux Kernel 6.16 – 6.16.6

Published
01 October 2025
Modified
19 October 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 5.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0013 2th percentile
Risk Priority 40 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-2025-39892 is a medium-severity NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476) vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 5.5 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Client Execution (T1203); ranked at the 2th 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-15 (Development Process, Standards, and Tools) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ASoC: soc-core: care NULL dirver name on snd_soc_lookup_component_nolocked() soc-generic-dmaengine-pcm.c uses same dev for both CPU and Platform. In such case, CPU component driver might not have driver->name, then snd_soc_lookup_component_nolocked() will…

more

be NULL pointer access error. Care NULL driver name. Call trace: strcmp from snd_soc_lookup_component_nolocked+0x64/0xa4 snd_soc_lookup_component_nolocked from snd_soc_unregister_component_by_driver+0x2c/0x44 snd_soc_unregister_component_by_driver from snd_dmaengine_pcm_unregister+0x28/0x64 snd_dmaengine_pcm_unregister from devres_release_all+0x98/0xfc devres_release_all from device_unbind_cleanup+0xc/0x60 device_unbind_cleanup from really_probe+0x220/0x2c8 really_probe from __driver_probe_device+0x88/0x1a0 __driver_probe_device from driver_probe_device+0x30/0x110 driver_probe_device from __driver_attach+0x90/0x178 __driver_attach from bus_for_each_dev+0x7c/0xcc bus_for_each_dev from bus_add_driver+0xcc/0x1ec bus_add_driver from driver_register+0x80/0x11c driver_register from do_one_initcall+0x58/0x23c do_one_initcall from kernel_init_freeable+0x198/0x1f4 kernel_init_freeable from kernel_init+0x1c/0x12c kernel_init from ret_from_fork+0x14/0x28

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.
T1687 Exploitation for Defense Impairment Defense Impairment
Adversaries may exploit vulnerabilities in security software, infrastructure, or defensive components to degrade, disable, or otherwise continue to impair their ability to prevent, detect, or respond to malicious activity.
T1499.004 Application or System Exploitation Impact
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities that can cause an application or system to crash and deny availability to users.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

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Affected Assets

linux
linux kernel
6.17 · 6.16 — 6.16.6

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation (including static analysis) directly finds null-dereference bugs before deployment.

Documented development standards and tools can enforce null-safety rules and safe pointer usage.

Engineering principles can mandate defensive coding such as explicit null checks before dereference.

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
blocks

Secure SDLC practices (static analysis, code review, safe coding standards) directly prevent NULL dereference bugs during development.

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 can detect NULL dereference defects before release.

prevents

Secure coding standards directly require NULL-pointer checks and safe dereference patterns.

References