Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HCVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.
Summary
CVE-2025-71162 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 9th 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.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
CVE-2025-71162 is a use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel's dmaengine subsystem, specifically the Tegra ADMA driver. The flaw arises during audio stream termination, particularly under XRUN conditions, where a race condition allows the DMA buffer to be freed by tegra_adma_terminate_all() before a pending vchan completion tasklet executes and accesses it. This sequence—DMA transfer completion scheduling the tasklet, followed by audio playback stop freeing the buffer via kfree(), and then the tasklet running vchan_complete() on freed memory—leads to memory corruption, as confirmed by KASAN crash logs showing a read-after-free in vchan_complete().
A local attacker with low privileges (PR:L) can exploit this vulnerability with low complexity (AC:L) and no user interaction (UI:N), as indicated by its CVSS v3.1 score of 7.8 (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H). Exploitation requires triggering the race during audio operations on affected Tegra systems, potentially causing kernel crashes and denial of service, with the use-after-free enabling high-impact confidentiality, integrity, and availability violations, such as arbitrary kernel memory access or code execution.
Kernel stable patch commits address the issue through synchronization fixes: tegra_adma_stop() now calls vchan_terminate_vdesc() to mark descriptors as terminated without immediate freeing, and a new tegra_adma_synchronize() callback invokes vchan_synchronize() to kill pending tasklets before descriptor cleanup. Security practitioners should apply these patches from the referenced stable commits (e.g., 2efd07a7c369, 59cb421b0902) to mitigate the vulnerability on Linux systems using the Tegra ADMA driver.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-4634
Vulnerability Data
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: dmaengine: tegra-adma: Fix use-after-free A use-after-free bug exists in the Tegra ADMA driver when audio streams are terminated, particularly during XRUN conditions. The issue occurs when the DMA buffer is…
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freed by tegra_adma_terminate_all() before the vchan completion tasklet finishes accessing it. The race condition follows this sequence: 1. DMA transfer completes, triggering an interrupt that schedules the completion tasklet (tasklet has not executed yet) 2. Audio playback stops, calling tegra_adma_terminate_all() which frees the DMA buffer memory via kfree() 3. The scheduled tasklet finally executes, calling vchan_complete() which attempts to access the already-freed memory Since tasklets can execute at any time after being scheduled, there is no guarantee that the buffer will remain valid when vchan_complete() runs. Fix this by properly synchronizing the virtual channel completion: - Calling vchan_terminate_vdesc() in tegra_adma_stop() to mark the descriptors as terminated instead of freeing the descriptor. - Add the callback tegra_adma_synchronize() that calls vchan_synchronize() which kills any pending tasklets and frees any terminated descriptors. Crash logs: [ 337.427523] BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in vchan_complete+0x124/0x3b0 [ 337.427544] Read of size 8 at addr ffff000132055428 by task swapper/0/0 [ 337.427562] Call trace: [ 337.427564] dump_backtrace+0x0/0x320 [ 337.427571] show_stack+0x20/0x30 [ 337.427575] dump_stack_lvl+0x68/0x84 [ 337.427584] print_address_description.constprop.0+0x74/0x2b8 [ 337.427590] kasan_report+0x1f4/0x210 [ 337.427598] __asan_load8+0xa0/0xd0 [ 337.427603] vchan_complete+0x124/0x3b0 [ 337.427609] tasklet_action_common.constprop.0+0x190/0x1d0 [ 337.427617] tasklet_action+0x30/0x40 [ 337.427623] __do_softirq+0x1a0/0x5c4 [ 337.427628] irq_exit+0x110/0x140 [ 337.427633] handle_domain_irq+0xa4/0xe0 [ 337.427640] gic_handle_irq+0x64/0x160 [ 337.427644] call_on_irq_stack+0x20/0x4c [ 337.427649] do_interrupt_handler+0x7c/0x90 [ 337.427654] el1_interrupt+0x30/0x80 [ 337.427659] el1h_64_irq_handler+0x18/0x30 [ 337.427663] el1h_64_irq+0x7c/0x80 [ 337.427667] cpuidle_enter_state+0xe4/0x540 [ 337.427674] cpuidle_enter+0x54/0x80 [ 337.427679] do_idle+0x2e0/0x380 [ 337.427685] cpu_startup_entry+0x2c/0x70 [ 337.427690] rest_init+0x114/0x130 [ 337.427695] arch_call_rest_init+0x18/0x24 [ 337.427702] start_kernel+0x380/0x3b4 [ 337.427706] __primary_switched+0xc0/0xc8
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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- 3 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
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.
Secure SDLC practices directly incorporate memory-safety tooling and reviews that prevent most use-after-free defects.
Vulnerability identification processes can discover use-after-free issues via scanning or analysis but do not prevent their introduction.
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.
Security testing in development can detect use-after-free bugs before release.
Secure SDLC mandates memory-safety practices that reduce use-after-free defects.
Application security requirements can specify memory-management rules that mitigate use-after-free.
Secure architecture principles include memory-safety design choices that limit use-after-free exposure.
Secure coding standards directly prescribe avoidance of use-after-free patterns.
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