CVE-2025-39881

kernfs: Fix UAF in polling when open file is released

State
Published
Severity
7.8 High
Published
Sep 23, 2025
Updated
Aug 5, 2026
Reserved
Apr 16, 2025

Read the record on cve.org

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

kernfs: Fix UAF in polling when open file is released

A use-after-free (UAF) vulnerability was identified in the PSI (Pressure Stall Information) monitoring mechanism:

BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in psi_trigger_poll+0x3c/0x140 Read of size 8 at addr ffff3de3d50bd308 by task systemd/1

psi_trigger_poll+0x3c/0x140 cgroup_pressure_poll+0x70/0xa0 cgroup_file_poll+0x8c/0x100 kernfs_fop_poll+0x11c/0x1c0 ep_item_poll.isra.0+0x188/0x2c0

Allocated by task 1: cgroup_file_open+0x88/0x388 kernfs_fop_open+0x73c/0xaf0 do_dentry_open+0x5fc/0x1200 vfs_open+0xa0/0x3f0 do_open+0x7e8/0xd08 path_openat+0x2fc/0x6b0 do_filp_open+0x174/0x368

Freed by task 8462: cgroup_file_release+0x130/0x1f8 kernfs_drain_open_files+0x17c/0x440 kernfs_drain+0x2dc/0x360 kernfs_show+0x1b8/0x288 cgroup_file_show+0x150/0x268 cgroup_pressure_write+0x1dc/0x340 cgroup_file_write+0x274/0x548

Reproduction Steps: 1. Open test/cpu.pressure and establish epoll monitoring 2. Disable monitoring: echo 0 > test/cgroup.pressure 3. Re-enable monitoring: echo 1 > test/cgroup.pressure

The race condition occurs because: 1. When cgroup.pressure is disabled (echo 0 > cgroup.pressure), it: - Releases PSI triggers via cgroup_file_release() - Frees of->priv through kernfs_drain_open_files() 2. While epoll still holds reference to the file and continues polling 3. Re-enabling (echo 1 > cgroup.pressure) accesses freed of->priv

epolling disable/enable cgroup.pressure fd=open(cpu.pressure) while(1) ... epoll_wait kernfs_fop_poll kernfs_get_active = true echo 0 > cgroup.pressure ... cgroup_file_show kernfs_show // inactive kn kernfs_drain_open_files cft->release(of); kfree(ctx); ... kernfs_get_active = false echo 1 > cgroup.pressure kernfs_show kernfs_activate_one(kn); kernfs_fop_poll kernfs_get_active = true cgroup_file_poll psi_trigger_poll // UAF ... end: close(fd)

To address this issue, introduce kernfs_get_active_of() for kernfs open files to obtain active references. This function will fail if the open file has been released. Replace kernfs_get_active() with kernfs_get_active_of() to prevent further operations on released file descriptors.

Scores

CVSSScoreVectorSource
3.17.8 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HLinux

Weaknesses

The record names no weakness.

Affected Products

ProductVersions
LinuxLinux
  • 34f26a15611afb03c33df6819359d36f5b382589 to before 34d9cafd469c69ad85e6a36b4303c78382cf5c79Affected
  • 34f26a15611afb03c33df6819359d36f5b382589 to before 854baafc00c433cccbe0ab4231b77aeb9b637b77Affected
  • 34f26a15611afb03c33df6819359d36f5b382589 to before 7e64474aba78d240f7804f48f2d454dcca78b15fAffected
  • 34f26a15611afb03c33df6819359d36f5b382589 to before ac5cda4fae8818cf1963317bb699f7f2f85b60afAffected
  • 34f26a15611afb03c33df6819359d36f5b382589 to before 3c9ba2777d6c86025e1ba4186dc5cd930e40ec5fAffected
LinuxLinux
  • 6.1Affected
  • before 6.1Not affected
  • 6.1.153 through 6.1.*Not affected
  • 6.6.107 through 6.6.*Not affected
  • 6.12.48 through 6.12.*Not affected
  • 6.16.8 through 6.16.*Not affected
  • 6.17 and laterNot affected

References

Every record here comes from the CVE Program’s CVE List. © 1999–2026 The MITRE Corporation. CVE is a registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation. The records are reproduced under the CVE Program terms of use.