CVE-2025-39721

MEDIUM

Linux Kernel 5.18-6.16.3 - Use-After-Free in QAT Driver Workqueue Handling

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: crypto: qat - flush misc workqueue during device shutdown Repeated loading and unloading of a device specific QAT driver, for example qat_4xxx, in a tight loop can lead to a crash due to a use-after-free scenario. This occurs when a power management (PM) interrupt triggers just before the device-specific driver (e.g., qat_4xxx.ko) is unloaded, while the core driver (intel_qat.ko) remains loaded. Since the driver uses a shared workqueue (`qat_misc_wq`) across all devices and owned by intel_qat.ko, a deferred routine from the device-specific driver may still be pending in the queue. If this routine executes after the driver is unloaded, it can dereference freed memory, resulting in a page fault and kernel crash like the following: BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: ffa000002e50a01c #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode RIP: 0010:pm_bh_handler+0x1d2/0x250 [intel_qat] Call Trace: pm_bh_handler+0x1d2/0x250 [intel_qat] process_one_work+0x171/0x340 worker_thread+0x277/0x3a0 kthread+0xf0/0x120 ret_from_fork+0x2d/0x50 To prevent this, flush the misc workqueue during device shutdown to ensure that all pending work items are completed before the driver is unloaded. Note: This approach may slightly increase shutdown latency if the workqueue contains jobs from other devices, but it ensures correctness and stability.

Scores

CVSS v3 5.5
EPSS 0.0013
EPSS Percentile 3.1%
Attack Vector LOCAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Details

CWE
CWE-416
Status published
Products (17)
linux/Kernel 5.18.0 - 6.1.162linux
linux/Kernel 6.13.0 - 6.16.4linux
linux/Kernel 6.2.0 - 6.6.103linux
linux/Kernel 6.7.0 - 6.12.44linux
Linux/Linux < 5.18
Linux/Linux 5.18
Linux/Linux 6.1.162 - 6.1.*
Linux/Linux 6.12.44 - 6.12.*
Linux/Linux 6.16.4 - 6.16.*
Linux/Linux 6.17
... and 7 more
Published Sep 05, 2025
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026