Answer in brief
CVE-2025-40251 records a High severity (CVSS 7.8) vulnerability in devlink: rate: Unset parent pointer in devl_rate_nodes_destroy. The current sources do not mark it as known exploited. The current feed maps Linux/Linux (generic), Linux/Linux (generic), Siemens/RUGGEDCOM RST2428P (generic). Check affected ranges and fixed versions before updating.
Analysis pending evidence review
HOL Guard separates source facts from reviewed analysis. See the methodology.
CVSS is 7.8. The current sources do not mark it as known exploited. Treat this as a source-backed prioritization signal, not a statement about your environment.
Analysis status
Analysis pending evidence review
Factual feed record only; HOL analysis is not approved for indexing. Read the methodology.
The current feed maps Linux/Linux (generic), Linux/Linux (generic), Siemens/RUGGEDCOM RST2428P (generic). Check affected ranges and fixed versions before updating.
| Product | Affected versions | Fixed versions |
|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | Not reported | Not reported |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.18:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* | Not reported | Not reported |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.18:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* | Not reported | Not reported |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.18:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* | Not reported | Not reported |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.18:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* | Not reported | Not reported |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.18:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:* | Not reported | Not reported |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.18:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:* | Not reported | Not reported |
| Package | Affected range | Fixed version |
|---|---|---|
| Linux/Linuxgeneric | >=d7555984507822458b32a6405881038241d140be <90e51e20bcec9bff5b2421ce1bd95704764655f5 || >=d7555984507822458b32a6405881038241d140be <715d9cda646a8a38ea8b2bb5afb679a7464055e2 || >=d7555984507822458b32a6405881038241d140be <c70df6c17d389cc743f0eb30160e2d6bc6910db8 || >=d7555984507822458b32a6405881038241d140be <542f45486f1ce2d2dde75bd85aca0389ef7046c3 || >=d7555984507822458b32a6405881038241d140be <f94c1a114ac209977bdf5ca841b98424295ab1f0 | 90e51e20bcec9bff5b2421ce1bd95704764655f5, 715d9cda646a8a38ea8b2bb5afb679a7464055e2, c70df6c17d389cc743f0eb30160e2d6bc6910db8, 542f45486f1ce2d2dde75bd85aca0389ef7046c3, f94c1a114ac209977bdf5ca841b98424295ab1f0 |
| Linux/Linuxgeneric | 5.14 | Not reported |
| Siemens/RUGGEDCOM RST2428Pgeneric | >=0 <V4.0 | V4.0 |
Published upstream
Dec 4, 2025
Evidence: source:cvelist:source_dates:source-dates:recordSource modified
Oct 19, 2026
Evidence: source:cvelist:source_dates:source-dates:recordFirst seen by HOL
Aug 5, 2026
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: devlink: rate: Unset parent pointer in devl_rate_nodes_destroy The function devl_rate_nodes_destroy is documented to "Unset parent for all rate objects". However, it was only calling the driver-specific `rate_leaf_parent_set` or `rate_node_parent_set` ops and decrementing the parent's refcount, without actually setting the `devlink_rate->parent` pointer to NULL. This leaves a dangling pointer in the `devlink_rate` struct, which cause refcount error in netdevsim[1] and mlx5[2]. In addition, this is inconsistent with the behavior of `devlink_nl_rate_parent_node_set`, where the parent pointer is correctly cleared. This patch fixes the issue by explicitly setting `devlink_rate->parent` to NULL after notifying the driver, thus fulfilling the function's documented behavior for all rate objects. [1] repro steps: echo 1 > /sys/bus/netdevsim/new_device devlink dev eswitch set netdevsim/netdevsim1 mode switchdev echo 1 > /sys/bus/netdevsim/devices/netdevsim1/sriov_numvfs devlink port function rate add netdevsim/netdevsim1/test_node devlink port function rate set netdevsim/netdevsim1/128 parent test_node echo 1 > /sys/bus/netdevsim/del_device dmesg: refcount_t: decrement hit 0; leaking memory. WARNING: CPU: 8 PID: 1530 at lib/refcount.c:31 refcount_warn_saturate+0x42/0xe0 CPU: 8 UID: 0 PID: 1530 Comm: bash Not tainted 6.18.0-rc4+ #1 NONE Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS rel-1.16.0-0-gd239552ce722-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:refcount_warn_saturate+0x42/0xe0 Call Trace: <TASK> devl_rate_leaf_destroy+0x8d/0x90 __nsim_dev_port_del+0x6c/0x70 [netdevsim] nsim_dev_reload_destroy+0x11c/0x140 [netdevsim] nsim_drv_remove+0x2b/0xb0 [netdevsim] device_release_driver_internal+0x194/0x1f0 bus_remove_device+0xc6/0x130 device_del+0x159/0x3c0 device_unregister+0x1a/0x60 del_device_store+0x111/0x170 [netdevsim] kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x12e/0x1e0 vfs_write+0x215/0x3d0 ksys_write+0x5f/0xd0 do_syscall_64+0x55/0x10f0 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x4b/0x53 [2] devlink dev eswitch set pci/0000:08:00.0 mode switchdev devlink port add pci/0000:08:00.0 flavour pcisf pfnum 0 sfnum 1000 devlink port function rate add pci/0000:08:00.0/group1 devlink port function rate set pci/0000:08:00.0/32768 parent group1 modprobe -r mlx5_ib mlx5_fwctl mlx5_core dmesg: refcount_t: decrement hit 0; leaking memory. WARNING: CPU: 7 PID: 16151 at lib/refcount.c:31 refcount_warn_saturate+0x42/0xe0 CPU: 7 UID: 0 PID: 16151 Comm: bash Not tainted 6.17.0-rc7_for_upstream_min_debug_2025_10_02_12_44 #1 NONE Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS rel-1.16.3-0-ga6ed6b701f0a-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:refcount_warn_saturate+0x42/0xe0 Call Trace: <TASK> devl_rate_leaf_destroy+0x8d/0x90 mlx5_esw_offloads_devlink_port_unregister+0x33/0x60 [mlx5_core] mlx5_esw_offloads_unload_rep+0x3f/0x50 [mlx5_core] mlx5_eswitch_unload_sf_vport+0x40/0x90 [mlx5_core] mlx5_sf_esw_event+0xc4/0x120 [mlx5_core] notifier_call_chain+0x33/0xa0 blocking_notifier_call_chain+0x3b/0x50 mlx5_eswitch_disable_locked+0x50/0x110 [mlx5_core] mlx5_eswitch_disable+0x63/0x90 [mlx5_core] mlx5_unload+0x1d/0x170 [mlx5_core] mlx5_uninit_one+0xa2/0x130 [mlx5_core] remove_one+0x78/0xd0 [mlx5_core] pci_device_remove+0x39/0xa0 device_release_driver_internal+0x194/0x1f0 unbind_store+0x99/0xa0 kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x12e/0x1e0 vfs_write+0x215/0x3d0 ksys_write+0x5f/0xd0 do_syscall_64+0x53/0x1f0 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x4b/0x53
Quoted source text, attributed separately from HOL analysis.