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High · 7.1 CVE-2025-39901 EUVD-2025-32889GHSA-xm78-498q-x929

i40e: remove read access to debugfs files

Published Oct 1, 2025 · Updated Aug 19, 2026 · Assigned by Linux

Vendor: Linux Product: Linux Package: kernel Package: linux Package: linux Package: linux-allwinner-5.19 Package: linux-aws Package: linux-aws-5.0 Package: linux-aws-5.11 Package: linux-aws-5.13 Package: linux-aws-5.15 Package: linux-aws-5.19 Package: linux-aws-5.3 Package: linux-aws-5.4 Package: linux-aws-5.8 Package: linux-aws-6.14 Package: linux-aws-6.2 Package: linux-aws-6.5 Package: linux-aws-6.8 Package: linux-aws-fips Package: linux-aws-hwe Package: linux-azure Package: linux-azure-4.15 Package: linux-azure-5.11 Package: linux-azure-5.13 Package: linux-azure-5.15 Package: linux-azure-5.19 Package: linux-azure-5.3 Package: linux-azure-5.4 Package: linux-azure-5.8 Package: linux-azure-6.11 Package: linux-azure-6.14 Package: linux-azure-6.2 Package: linux-azure-6.5 Package: linux-azure-6.8 Package: linux-azure-edge Package: linux-azure-fde Package: linux-azure-fde-5.15 Package: linux-azure-fde-5.19 Package: linux-azure-fde-6.14 Package: linux-azure-fde-6.2 Package: linux-azure-fde-6.8 Package: linux-azure-fips Package: linux-azure-nvidia Package: linux-azure-nvidia-6.14 Package: linux-bluefield Package: linux-fips Package: linux-gcp Package: linux-gcp-4.15 Package: linux-gcp-5.11 Package: linux-gcp-5.13 Package: linux-gcp-5.15 Package: linux-gcp-5.19 Package: linux-gcp-5.3 Package: linux-gcp-5.4 Package: linux-gcp-5.8 Package: linux-gcp-6.11 Package: linux-gcp-6.14 Package: linux-gcp-6.2 Package: linux-gcp-6.5 Package: linux-gcp-6.8 Package: linux-gcp-fips Package: linux-gke Package: linux-gke-4.15 Package: linux-gke-5.15 Package: linux-gke-5.4 Package: linux-gkeop Package: linux-gkeop-5.15 Package: linux-gkeop-5.4 Package: linux-hwe Package: linux-hwe-5.11 Package: linux-hwe-5.13 Package: linux-hwe-5.15 Package: linux-hwe-5.19 Package: linux-hwe-5.4 Package: linux-hwe-5.8 Package: linux-hwe-6.11 Package: linux-hwe-6.14 Package: linux-hwe-6.2 Package: linux-hwe-6.5 Package: linux-hwe-6.8 Package: linux-hwe-edge Package: linux-ibm Package: linux-ibm-5.15 Package: linux-ibm-5.4 Package: linux-ibm-6.8 Package: linux-intel Package: linux-intel-5.13 Package: linux-intel-iot-realtime Package: linux-intel-iotg Package: linux-intel-iotg-5.15 Package: linux-iot Package: linux-kvm Package: linux-lowlatency Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.15 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.11 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.8 Package: linux-lts-xenial Package: linux-nvidia Package: linux-nvidia-6.11 Package: linux-nvidia-6.2 Package: linux-nvidia-6.5 Package: linux-nvidia-6.8 Package: linux-nvidia-lowlatency Package: linux-nvidia-tegra Package: linux-nvidia-tegra-5.15 Package: linux-nvidia-tegra-igx Package: linux-oem Package: linux-oem-5.10 Package: linux-oem-5.13 Package: linux-oem-5.14 Package: linux-oem-5.17 Package: linux-oem-5.6 Package: linux-oem-6.0 Package: linux-oem-6.1 Package: linux-oem-6.11 Package: linux-oem-6.14 Package: linux-oem-6.5 Package: linux-oem-6.8 Package: linux-oracle Package: linux-oracle-5.0 Package: linux-oracle-5.11 Package: linux-oracle-5.13 Package: linux-oracle-5.15 Package: linux-oracle-5.3 Package: linux-oracle-5.4 Package: linux-oracle-5.8 Package: linux-oracle-6.14 Package: linux-oracle-6.5 Package: linux-oracle-6.8 Package: linux-raspi Package: linux-raspi-5.4 Package: linux-raspi-realtime Package: linux-raspi2 Package: linux-realtime Package: linux-realtime-6.14 Package: linux-realtime-6.8 Package: linux-riscv Package: linux-riscv-5.11 Package: linux-riscv-5.15 Package: linux-riscv-5.19 Package: linux-riscv-5.8 Package: linux-riscv-6.14 Package: linux-riscv-6.5 Package: linux-riscv-6.8 Package: linux-starfive-5.19 Package: linux-starfive-6.2 Package: linux-starfive-6.5 Package: linux-vmware Package: linux-xilinx Package: linux-xilinx-zynqmp Platform: Linux Ecosystem: Azure Linux Ecosystem: Debian Ecosystem: Ubuntu

Description

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

i40e: remove read access to debugfs files

The 'command' and 'netdev_ops' debugfs files are a legacy debugging
interface supported by the i40e driver since its early days by commit
02e9c290814c ("i40e: debugfs interface").

Both of these debugfs files provide a read handler which is mostly useless,
and which is implemented with questionable logic. They both use a static
256 byte buffer which is initialized to the empty string. In the case of
the 'command' file this buffer is literally never used and simply wastes
space. In the case of the 'netdev_ops' file, the last command written is
saved here.

On read, the files contents are presented as the name of the device
followed by a colon and then the contents of their respective static
buffer. For 'command' this will always be "<device>: ". For 'netdev_ops',
this will be "<device>: <last command written>". But note the buffer is
shared between all devices operated by this module. At best, it is mostly
meaningless information, and at worse it could be accessed simultaneously
as there doesn't appear to be any locking mechanism.

We have also recently received multiple reports for both read functions
about their use of snprintf and potential overflow that could result in
reading arbitrary kernel memory. For the 'command' file, this is definitely
impossible, since the static buffer is always zero and never written to.
For the 'netdev_ops' file, it does appear to be possible, if the user
carefully crafts the command input, it will be copied into the buffer,
which could be large enough to cause snprintf to truncate, which then
causes the copy_to_user to read beyond the length of the buffer allocated
by kzalloc.

A minimal fix would be to replace snprintf() with scnprintf() which would
cap the return to the number of bytes written, preventing an overflow. A
more involved fix would be to drop the mostly useless static buffers,
saving 512 bytes and modifying the read functions to stop needing those as
input.

Instead, lets just completely drop the read access to these files. These
are debug interfaces exposed as part of debugfs, and I don't believe that
dropping read access will break any script, as the provided output is
pretty useless. You can find the netdev name through other more standard
interfaces, and the 'netdev_ops' interface can easily result in garbage if
you issue simultaneous writes to multiple devices at once.

In order to properly remove the i40e_dbg_netdev_ops_buf, we need to
refactor its write function to avoid using the static buffer. Instead, use
the same logic as the i40e_dbg_command_write, with an allocated buffer.
Update the code to use this instead of the static buffer, and ensure we
free the buffer on exit. This fixes simultaneous writes to 'netdev_ops' on
multiple devices, and allows us to remove the now unused static buffer
along with removing the read access.

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
Linux Linux 3.12 6.1.183

Fixed in Linux distributions

Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian 14 linux 6.16.6-1 —
Debian 13 linux 6.12.48-1 —
Debian 12 linux 6.1.187-1 —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu Nvidia-BlueField 24.04 LTS linux-bluefield 6.8.0-1017.21 —
Ubuntu Nvidia-BlueField 22.04 LTS linux-bluefield No fix yet —
Ubuntu 25.10 linux-azure-fde No fix yet —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux 6.8.0-106.106 USN-8095-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-aws 6.8.0-1050.53 USN-8095-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-azure 6.8.0-1051.57 USN-8125-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-azure-fde 6.8.0-1058.65 —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-azure-nvidia 6.8.0-1039.42 —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-gcp 6.8.0-1052.55 USN-8095-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-gke 6.8.0-1048.53 USN-8095-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-gkeop 6.8.0-1035.38 USN-8095-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-ibm 6.8.0-1049.49 USN-8095-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-intel +19 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-lowlatency 6.8.0-106.106.1 USN-8095-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-nvidia 6.8.0-1049.52 USN-8100-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-nvidia-lowlatency 6.8.0-1049.52.1 USN-8100-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-nvidia-tegra 6.8.0-1020.20 —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-oracle 6.8.0-1047.48 USN-8095-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-raspi 6.8.0-1050.54 USN-8095-5
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-xilinx 6.8.0-1028.29 USN-8261-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux +49 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-aws-6.8 6.8.0-1050.53~22.04.1 USN-8095-4
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-azure-6.8 6.8.0-1051.57~22.04.1 USN-8126-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-azure-fde-6.8 6.8.0-1058.65~22.04.1 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-gcp-6.8 6.8.0-1052.55~22.04.1 USN-8095-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-hwe-6.8 +1 6.8.0-106.106~22.04.1 USN-8095-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-ibm-6.8 6.8.0-1049.49~22.04.1 USN-8095-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.8 6.8.0-106.106.1~22.04.1 USN-8095-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-nvidia-6.8 6.8.0-1049.52~22.04.1 USN-8100-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-oracle-6.8 6.8.0-1047.48~22.04.1 USN-8095-1
Show 18 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-gke +28 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS linux-gcp +14 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS linux-hwe-edge No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro Realtime 24.04 LTS linux-raspi-realtime 6.8.0-2040.41 USN-8095-5
Ubuntu Pro Realtime 24.04 LTS linux-realtime 6.8.1-1045.46 USN-8095-3
Ubuntu Pro Realtime 24.04 LTS linux-realtime-6.14 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro Realtime 22.04 LTS linux-realtime +1 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro Realtime 22.04 LTS linux-realtime-6.8 6.8.1-1045.46~22.04.1 USN-8095-3
Ubuntu Pro FIPS 20.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS 18.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS 16.04 LTS linux-fips No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 24.04 LTS linux-aws-fips 6.8.0-1050.53+fips1 USN-8095-2
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 24.04 LTS linux-azure-fips 6.8.0-1052.58+fips1 USN-8165-1
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 24.04 LTS linux-fips 6.8.0-106.106+fips1 USN-8095-2
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 24.04 LTS linux-gcp-fips 6.8.0-1052.55+fips1 USN-8095-2
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 22.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 20.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 18.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 16.04 LTS linux-fips No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-preview 22.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS linux +21 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS linux +12 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS linux +7 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 14.04 LTS linux +3 No fix yet —

Amazon Linux

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Amazon Linux 2023 kernel-livepatch-6.1.174-217.345 1:1.0-0.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-1817
Amazon Linux 2023 perf +11 1:6.1.174-217.345.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-1817

Azure Linux

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Azure Linux 3 kernel No fix yet —
Azure Linux 2 (CBL-Mariner) kernel No fix yet —

Oracle Linux

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Oracle Linux 9 kernel-uek +34 6.12.0-105.51.5.el10uek ELSA-2025-25754

Advisories 13

References