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Unscored CVE-2025-40072 EUVD-2025-36456GHSA-w5hw-p7rf-8672

fanotify: Validate the return value of mnt_ns_from_dentry() before dereferencing

Published Oct 28, 2025 · Updated May 11, 2026 · Assigned by Linux

Vendor: Linux Product: Linux 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-5.19 Package: linux-aws-5.3 Package: linux-aws-5.8 Package: linux-aws-6.17 Package: linux-aws-6.2 Package: linux-aws-6.5 Package: linux-azure Package: linux-azure-5.11 Package: linux-azure-5.13 Package: linux-azure-5.19 Package: linux-azure-5.3 Package: linux-azure-5.8 Package: linux-azure-6.11 Package: linux-azure-6.2 Package: linux-azure-6.5 Package: linux-azure-edge Package: linux-azure-fde Package: linux-azure-fde-5.19 Package: linux-azure-fde-6.2 Package: linux-gcp Package: linux-gcp-5.11 Package: linux-gcp-5.13 Package: linux-gcp-5.19 Package: linux-gcp-5.3 Package: linux-gcp-5.8 Package: linux-gcp-6.11 Package: linux-gcp-6.17 Package: linux-gcp-6.2 Package: linux-gcp-6.5 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-5.19 Package: linux-hwe-5.8 Package: linux-hwe-6.11 Package: linux-hwe-6.2 Package: linux-hwe-6.5 Package: linux-hwe-edge Package: linux-intel-5.13 Package: linux-intel-iot-realtime 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-nvidia-6.17 Package: linux-nvidia-6.2 Package: linux-nvidia-6.5 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-6.17 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-5.3 Package: linux-oracle-5.8 Package: linux-oracle-6.17 Package: linux-oracle-6.5 Package: linux-raspi Package: linux-raspi-realtime Package: linux-raspi2 Package: linux-realtime Package: linux-realtime-6.17 Package: linux-riscv Package: linux-riscv-5.11 Package: linux-riscv-5.19 Package: linux-riscv-5.8 Package: linux-riscv-6.5 Package: linux-starfive-5.19 Package: linux-starfive-6.2 Package: linux-starfive-6.5 Platform: Linux Ecosystem: Debian Ecosystem: Ubuntu

Description

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

fanotify: Validate the return value of mnt_ns_from_dentry() before dereferencing

The function do_fanotify_mark() does not validate if
mnt_ns_from_dentry() returns NULL before dereferencing mntns->user_ns.
This causes a NULL pointer dereference in do_fanotify_mark() if the
path is not a mount namespace object.

Fix this by checking mnt_ns_from_dentry()'s return value before
dereferencing it.

Before the patch

$ gcc fanotify_nullptr.c -o fanotify_nullptr
$ mkdir A
$ ./fanotify_nullptr
Fanotify fd: 3
fanotify_mark: Operation not permitted
$ unshare -Urm
Fanotify fd: 3
Killed

int main(void){
int ffd;
ffd = fanotify_init(FAN_CLASS_NOTIF | FAN_REPORT_MNT, 0);
if(ffd < 0){
perror("fanotify_init");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}

printf("Fanotify fd: %d\n",ffd);

if(fanotify_mark(ffd, FAN_MARK_ADD | FAN_MARK_MNTNS,
FAN_MNT_ATTACH, AT_FDCWD, "A") < 0){
perror("fanotify_mark");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}

return 0;
}

After the patch

$ gcc fanotify_nullptr.c -o fanotify_nullptr
$ mkdir A
$ ./fanotify_nullptr
Fanotify fd: 3
fanotify_mark: Operation not permitted
$ unshare -Urm
Fanotify fd: 3
fanotify_mark: Invalid argument

[ 25.694973] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000038
[ 25.695006] #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode
[ 25.695012] #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page
[ 25.695017] PGD 109a30067 P4D 109a30067 PUD 142b46067 PMD 0
[ 25.695025] Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP NOPTI
[ 25.695032] CPU: 4 UID: 1000 PID: 1478 Comm: fanotify_nullpt Not
tainted 6.17.0-rc4 #1 PREEMPT(lazy)
[ 25.695040] Hardware name: VMware, Inc. VMware Virtual
Platform/440BX Desktop Reference Platform, BIOS 6.00 11/12/2020
[ 25.695049] RIP: 0010:do_fanotify_mark+0x817/0x950
[ 25.695066] Code: 04 00 00 e9 45 fd ff ff 48 8b 7c 24 48 4c 89 54
24 18 4c 89 5c 24 10 4c 89 0c 24 e8 b3 11 fc ff 4c 8b 54 24 18 4c 8b
5c 24 10 <48> 8b 78 38 4c 8b 0c 24 49 89 c4 e9 13 fd ff ff 8b 4c 24 28
85 c9
[ 25.695081] RSP: 0018:ffffd31c469e3c08 EFLAGS: 00010203
[ 25.695104] RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: 0000000001000000 RCX: ffff8eb48aebd220
[ 25.695110] RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: ffff8eb4835e8180
[ 25.695115] RBP: 0000000000000111 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000
[ 25.695142] R10: ffff8eb48a7d56c0 R11: ffff8eb482bede00 R12: 00000000004012a7
[ 25.695148] R13: 0000000000000110 R14: 0000000000000001 R15: ffff8eb48a7d56c0
[ 25.695154] FS: 00007f8733bda740(0000) GS:ffff8eb61ce5f000(0000)
knlGS:0000000000000000
[ 25.695162] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
[ 25.695170] CR2: 0000000000000038 CR3: 0000000136994006 CR4: 00000000003706f0
[ 25.695201] Call Trace:
[ 25.695209] <TASK>
[ 25.695215] __x64_sys_fanotify_mark+0x1f/0x30
[ 25.695222] do_syscall_64+0x82/0x2c0
...

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
Linux Linux 6.16 6.17.3

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 6.17.6-1 —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 25.10 linux 6.17.0-14.14 USN-8029-1
Ubuntu 25.10 linux-aws +2 6.17.0-1007.7 USN-8030-1, USN-8029-2
Ubuntu 25.10 linux-azure +1 6.17.0-1008.8 USN-8029-3, USN-8029-1
Ubuntu 25.10 linux-azure-fde No fix yet —
Ubuntu 25.10 linux-realtime 6.17.0-1006.7 USN-8029-1
Ubuntu 25.10 linux-riscv 6.17.0-14.14.1 —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-aws-6.17 +1 6.17.0-1007.7~24.04.1 —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-gcp-6.17 6.17.0-1008.8~24.04.1 —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-nvidia-6.17 6.17.0-1008.8 —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-oem-6.17 6.17.0-1011.11 USN-8048-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-riscv +8 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-riscv +32 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-gke +28 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS linux-gcp +14 No fix yet —
Show 2 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS linux-hwe-edge No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro Realtime 24.04 LTS linux-realtime-6.17 6.17.0-1006.7~24.04.1 —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
openSUSE Tumbleweed kernel-source 6.17.7-1.1 openSUSE-SU-2025:15702-1
openSUSE Tumbleweed kernel-source-longterm 6.18.16-1.1 openSUSE-SU-2026:10301-1

Advisories 8

References