CVE-2025-39848: linux kernel vulnerability

What is known

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ax25: properly unshare skbs in ax25_kiss_rcv() Bernard Pidoux reported a regression apparently caused by commit c353e8983e0d ("net: introduce per netns packet chains"). skb->dev becomes NULL and we crash in __netif_receive_skb_core(). Before above commit, different kind of bugs or corruptions could happen without a major crash. But the root cause is that ax25_kiss_rcv() can queue/mangle input skb without checking if this skb is shared or not. Many thanks to Bernard Pidoux for his help, diagnosis and tests. We had a similar issue years ago fixed with commit 7aaed57c5c28 ("phonet: properly unshare skbs in phonet_rcv()").

Business impact

Successful exploitation of CVE-2025-39848, a medium vulnerability (CVSS 5.5) affecting linux kernel, may affect the confidentiality, integrity or availability of the vulnerable environment. The exact impact depends on the installed version, exposed interfaces and deployment configuration.

Recommended administrator action

Confirm whether linux kernel is present and compare installed versions with the vendor advisory and NVD record. Apply the vendor patch or documented mitigation; until remediation is complete, reduce exposure of affected interfaces, review relevant logs and monitor for indicators of exploitation. DataHouse can support version verification, managed patching, network exposure reduction, log review and backup validation for dedicated, cloud and colocated environments.

Sources

• NVD
• Reference
• Reference
• Reference
• Reference
• Reference
• Reference
• Reference
• Reference