CVE-2025-40072
UNSCOREDDescription
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 ...
How to fix
Remediation is compiled from vendor and distribution security advisories. Always confirm against the linked source for your exact version and platform.
CVSS v3.1 Vector
No CVSS vector data available.
Exploit Intelligence
Low risk: more likely to be exploited than 7% of all known CVEs.
References
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Start freeThis product uses NVD data but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. EPSS scores courtesy of FIRST.org (https://www.first.org/epss). Source: CISA KEV Catalog. Data as of 2025-10-30.