Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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-2025-71231 is a high-severity Out-of-bounds Read (CWE-125) vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 7.1 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); 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-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-2025-71231 is a vulnerability in the Linux kernel's crypto/iaa subsystem, specifically in the find_empty_iaa_compression_mode function. The issue arises because the local variable 'i' is initialized to -EINVAL but immediately overwritten by a for loop, preventing the error code from being returned. If no empty compression mode is found, the function returns the out-of-bounds index IAA_COMP_MODES_MAX, leading to an invalid array access in add_iaa_compression_mode(). This out-of-bounds read is classified under CWE-125 and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.1 (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H). The vulnerability was published on 2026-02-18.
A local attacker with low privileges can exploit this vulnerability with low complexity and no user interaction required. Successful exploitation allows reading of sensitive data (high confidentiality impact) and disruption of system availability (high availability impact), such as through denial of service via kernel crashes, while integrity remains unaffected.
Mitigation is provided through upstream kernel patches. Relevant fixes are available in the following stable kernel commits: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/48329301969f6d21b2ef35f678e40f72b59eac94, https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c77b33b58512708bd5603f48465f018c8b748847, https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d75207465eed20bc9b0daa4a0927de9568996067, and https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/de16f5bca05cace238d237791ed1b6e9d22dab60. Security practitioners should apply these patches to affected Linux kernel versions supporting the IAA crypto driver.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-207667
Vulnerability Data
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: crypto: iaa - Fix out-of-bounds index in find_empty_iaa_compression_mode The local variable 'i' is initialized with -EINVAL, but the for loop immediately overwrites it and -EINVAL is never returned. If no…
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empty compression mode can be found, the function would return the out-of-bounds index IAA_COMP_MODES_MAX, which would cause an invalid array access in add_iaa_compression_mode(). Fix both issues by returning either a valid index or -EINVAL.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Developer testing and evaluation directly finds out-of-bounds read flaws through static analysis, fuzzing, and dynamic bounds checks.
Secure engineering principles require bounds checking and memory-safe constructs that stop out-of-bounds reads from being introduced.
Process isolation confines the effects of an out-of-bounds read to the compromised process.
Input validation rejects malformed indices or lengths that would otherwise cause reads outside buffer bounds.
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-development practices such as bounds checking and memory-safe languages directly prevent out-of-bounds reads.
Vulnerability scanning and recording can discover instances of out-of-bounds reads after code is deployed.
Routine patching replaces vulnerable code containing out-of-bounds read flaws.
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 and acceptance includes fuzzing and static analysis that detect out-of-bounds read defects before release.
Logging can record evidence of an out-of-bounds read but does not prevent the weakness itself.
Secure development life cycle mandates input validation and bounds checking that directly prevent out-of-bounds reads.
Application security requirements include explicit bounds and memory-safety specifications that mitigate buffer over-reads.
Secure system architecture and engineering principles require memory-safe design patterns and runtime protections against out-of-bounds access.
Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe pointer arithmetic and mandate bounds-checked reads, eliminating CWE-125.