🛡️ CVE-2025-39684 on Debian — linux
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: comedi: Fix use of uninitialized memory in do_insn_ioctl() and do_insnlist_ioctl() syzbot reports a KMSAN kernel-infoleak in do_insn_ioctl(). A kernel buffer is allocated to hold insn->n samples (each of which is an unsigned int). For some instruction types, insn->n samples are copied back to user-space, unless an error code is being returned. The problem is that not all the instruction handlers that need to return data to userspace fill in the whole insn->n samples, so that there is an information leak. There is a similar syzbot report for do_insnlist_ioctl(), although it does not have a reproducer for it at the time of writing. One culprit is insn_rw_emulate_bits() which is used as the handler for INSN_READ or INSN_WRITE instructions for subdevices that do not have a specific handler for that instruction, but do have an INSN_BITS handler. For INSN_READ it only fills in at most 1 sample, so if insn->n is greater than 1, the remaining insn->n - 1 samples copied to userspace will be uninitialized kernel data. Another culprit is vm80xx_ai_insn_read() in the "vm80xx" driver. It never returns an error, even if it fails to fill the buffer. Fix it in do_insn_ioctl() and do_insnlist_ioctl() by making sure that uninitialized parts of the allocated buffer are zeroed before handling each instruction. Thanks to Arnaud Lecomte for their fix to do_insn_ioctl(). That fix replaced the call to kmalloc_array() with kcalloc(), but it is not always necessary to clear the whole buffer.
Distribution advisory
This page covers CVE-2025-39684 as tracked by Debian, for the package linux. The fix is available in version 6.16.5-1; earlier versions remain affected.
How this vulnerability can be exploited
This issue can be reached with local access to the system, attack complexity is low, an attacker needs low-level privileges on the target. No user interaction is required. The scope is unchanged, so the impact stays within the vulnerable component. Rated impact: confidentiality none, integrity none, availability high.
Weakness class
DEBIAN-CVE-2025-39684 is classified as CWE-908: Use of Uninitialized Resource. A resource is read before being initialised, so its contents are whatever was left there.
Affected software
DEBIAN-CVE-2025-39684 is recorded against 2 packages.
- linux (fixed in 6.16.5-1)
- linux-6.1 (fixed in 6.1.153-1~deb11u1)
Timeline and source
Published on 5 September 2025 and last revised on 4 August 2026. No public exploit is currently recorded for this entry. Record sourced from OSV.
References
CVE-2025-39684 on other distributions
Each distribution ships its own build and its own fixed version. Pick the one you run:
Details
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Affected Packages
| Software | From version | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| linux | — | 6.16.5-1 |
| linux-6.1 | — | 6.1.153-1~deb11u1 |
References
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Vulnerability Monitoring
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