of_numa: fix uninitialized memory nodes causing kernel panic
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Denial of service
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · High
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CISA ADP. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-476.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: of_numa: fix uninitialized memory nodes causing kernel panic When there are memory-only nodes (nodes without CPUs), these nodes are not properly initialized, causing kernel panic during boot. of_numa_init of_numa_parse_cpu_nodes node_set(nid, numa_nodes_parsed); of_numa_parse_memory_nodes In of_numa_parse_cpu_nodes, numa_nodes_parsed gets updated only for nodes containing CPUs. Memory-only nodes should have been updated in of_numa_parse_memory_nodes, but they weren't. Subsequently, when free_area_init() attempts to access NODE_DATA() for these uninitialized memory nodes, the kernel panics due to NULL pointer dereference. This can be reproduced on ARM64 QEMU with 1 CPU and 2 memory nodes: qemu-system-aarch64 \ -cpu host -nographic \ -m 4G -smp 1 \ -machine virt,accel=kvm,gic-version=3,iommu=smmuv3 \ -object memory-backend-ram,size=2G,id=mem0 \ -object memory-backend-ram,size=2G,id=mem1 \ -numa node,nodeid=0,memdev=mem0 \ -numa node,nodeid=1,memdev=mem1 \ -kernel $IMAGE \ -hda $DISK \ -append "console=ttyAMA0 root=/dev/vda rw earlycon" [ 0.000000] Booting Linux on physical CPU 0x0000000000 [0x481fd010] [ 0.000000] Linux version 6.17.0-rc1-00001-gabb4b3daf18c-dirty (yintirui@local) (gcc (GCC) 12.3.1, GNU ld (GNU Binutils) 2.41) #52 SMP PREEMPT Mon Aug 18 09:49:40 CST 2025 [ 0.000000] KASLR enabled [ 0.000000] random: crng init done [ 0.000000] Machine model: linux,dummy-virt [ 0.000000] efi: UEFI not found. [ 0.000000] earlycon: pl11 at MMIO 0x0000000009000000 (options '') [ 0.000000] printk: legacy bootconsole [pl11] enabled [ 0.000000] OF: reserved mem: Reserved memory: No reserved-memory node in the DT [ 0.000000] NODE_DATA(0) allocated [mem 0xbfffd9c0-0xbfffffff] [ 0.000000] node 1 must be removed before remove section 23 [ 0.000000] Zone ranges: [ 0.000000] DMA [mem 0x0000000040000000-0x00000000ffffffff] [ 0.000000] DMA32 empty [ 0.000000] Normal [mem 0x0000000100000000-0x000000013fffffff] [ 0.000000] Movable zone start for each node [ 0.000000] Early memory node ranges [ 0.000000] node 0: [mem 0x0000000040000000-0x00000000bfffffff] [ 0.000000] node 1: [mem 0x00000000c0000000-0x000000013fffffff] [ 0.000000] Initmem setup node 0 [mem 0x0000000040000000-0x00000000bfffffff] [ 0.000000] Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 00000000000000a0 [ 0.000000] Mem abort info: [ 0.000000] ESR = 0x0000000096000004 [ 0.000000] EC = 0x25: DABT (current EL), IL = 32 bits [ 0.000000] SET = 0, FnV = 0 [ 0.000000] EA = 0, S1PTW = 0 [ 0.000000] FSC = 0x04: level 0 translation fault [ 0.000000] Data abort info: [ 0.000000] ISV = 0, ISS = 0x00000004, ISS2 = 0x00000000 [ 0.000000] CM = 0, WnR = 0, TnD = 0, TagAccess = 0 [ 0.000000] GCS = 0, Overlay = 0, DirtyBit = 0, Xs = 0 [ 0.000000] [00000000000000a0] user address but active_mm is swapper [ 0.000000] Internal error: Oops: 0000000096000004 [#1] SMP [ 0.000000] Modules linked in: [ 0.000000] CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 0 Comm: swapper Not tainted 6.17.0-rc1-00001-g760c6dabf762-dirty #54 PREEMPT [ 0.000000] Hardware name: linux,dummy-virt (DT) [ 0.000000] pstate: 800000c5 (Nzcv daIF -PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) [ 0.000000] pc : free_area_init+0x50c/0xf9c [ 0.000000] lr : free_area_init+0x5c0/0xf9c [ 0.000000] sp : ffffa02ca0f33c00 [ 0.000000] x29: ffffa02ca0f33cb0 x28: 0000000000000000 x27: 0000000000000000 [ 0.000000] x26: 4ec4ec4ec4ec4ec5 x25: 00000000000c0000 x24: 00000000000c0000 [ 0.000000] x23: 0000000000040000 x22: 0000000000000000 x21: ffffa02ca0f3b368 [ 0.000000] x20: ffffa02ca14c7b98 x19: 0000000000000000 x18: 0000000000000002 [ 0.000000] x17: 000000000000cacc x16: 0000000000000001 x15: 0000000000000001 [ 0.000000] x14: 0000000080000000 x13: 0000000000000018 x12: 0000000000000002 [ 0.0 ---truncated---
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | 6.12 and later | 6.12.46, 6.16.6, 6.17 | Patch available | CNA |
- Linux VendorLinux Affected 6.12 and later Fixed in 6.12.46, 6.16.6, 6.17 Patch available CNA
CPE configurations NVD · 5
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.12 to before 6.12.46; 6.13 to before 6.16.6 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.17:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.17 rc1 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.17:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.17 rc2 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.17:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.17 rc3 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.17:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.17 rc4 | Vulnerable | Linux |
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.12 to before 6.12.46; 6.13 to before 6.16.6 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.17:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.17 rc1 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.17:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.17 rc2 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.17:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.17 rc3 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.17:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.17 rc4 Vulnerable ·Linux
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 6.12.46, 6.16.6, 6.17
Red Hat 2 advisories
- RHSA-2025:21492 Released 2025-11-17 · Red Hat rating Moderatekernel security update
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream EUS (v. 10.0) kernel-64k-debug-devel-6.12.0-55.45.1.el10_0, kernel-64k-debug-devel-matched-6.12.0-55.45.1.el10_0, kernel-64k-devel-6.12.0-55.45.1.el10_0 +12
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS EUS (v. 10.0) kernel-6.12.0-55.45.1.el10_0, kernel-64k-6.12.0-55.45.1.el10_0, kernel-64k-core-6.12.0-55.45.1.el10_0 +28
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux CodeReady Linux Builder EUS (v. 10.0) kernel-tools-libs-devel-6.12.0-55.45.1.el10_0, libperf-6.12.0-55.45.1.el10_0
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time EUS (v. 10.0) kernel-rt-6.12.0-55.45.1.el10_0, kernel-rt-64k-6.12.0-55.45.1.el10_0, kernel-rt-64k-core-6.12.0-55.45.1.el10_0 +21
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time for NFV EUS (v. 10.0) kernel-rt-6.12.0-55.45.1.el10_0, kernel-rt-core-6.12.0-55.45.1.el10_0, kernel-rt-debug-6.12.0-55.45.1.el10_0 +11
- RHSA-2025:21463 Released 2025-11-17 · Red Hat rating Moderatekernel security update
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 10) kernel-64k-debug-devel-6.12.0-124.11.1.el10_1, kernel-64k-debug-devel-matched-6.12.0-124.11.1.el10_1, kernel-64k-devel-6.12.0-124.11.1.el10_1 +12
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 10) kernel-6.12.0-124.11.1.el10_1, kernel-64k-6.12.0-124.11.1.el10_1, kernel-64k-core-6.12.0-124.11.1.el10_1 +29
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux CodeReady Linux Builder (v. 10) kernel-tools-libs-devel-6.12.0-124.11.1.el10_1, libperf-6.12.0-124.11.1.el10_1
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time (v. 10) kernel-rt-6.12.0-124.11.1.el10_1, kernel-rt-64k-6.12.0-124.11.1.el10_1, kernel-rt-64k-core-6.12.0-124.11.1.el10_1 +21
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time for NFV (v. 10) kernel-rt-6.12.0-124.11.1.el10_1, kernel-rt-core-6.12.0-124.11.1.el10_1, kernel-rt-debug-6.12.0-124.11.1.el10_1 +9
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 10) | Fixed | RHSA-2025:21463 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream EUS (v. 10.0) | Fixed | RHSA-2025:21492 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 10) | Fixed | RHSA-2025:21463 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS EUS (v. 10.0) | Fixed | RHSA-2025:21492 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux CodeReady Linux Builder (v. 10) | Fixed | RHSA-2025:21463 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux CodeReady Linux Builder EUS (v. 10.0) | Fixed | RHSA-2025:21492 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time (v. 10) | Fixed | RHSA-2025:21463 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time EUS (v. 10.0) | Fixed | RHSA-2025:21492 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time for NFV (v. 10) | Fixed | RHSA-2025:21463 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time for NFV EUS (v. 10.0) | Fixed | RHSA-2025:21492 |
Not affected: 4 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2025-39903
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-gm32-xqh2-ff6r
References
More Linux Kernel vulnerabilities
- TI-2025-26358 tls: fix handling of zero-length records on the rx_list KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2026-38352 netfilter: bridge: make ebt_snat ARP rewrite writable KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2013-05264 The (1) get_user and (2) put_user API functions in the Linux kernel before 3.5.5 on the… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2022-00125 Integer overflow in kernel KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
- TI-2013-01864 The perf_swevent_init function in kernel/events/core.c in the Linux kernel before 3.8.9… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
- TI-2021-05514 Heap Out-Of-Bounds Write in Netfilter IP6T_SO_SET_REPLACE KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.3
Sources
- CVE-2025-39903 · CVE Program
- CVE-2025-39903 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-gm32-xqh2-ff6r · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2025-39903 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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