CVE-2025-39847
Description
From CVE.org
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ppp: fix memory leak in pad_compress_skb If alloc_skb() fails in pad_compress_skb(), it returns NULL without releasing the old skb. The caller does: skb = pad_compress_skb(ppp, skb); if (!skb) goto drop; drop: kfree_skb(skb); When pad_compress_skb() returns NULL, the reference to the old skb is lost and kfree_skb(skb) ends up doing nothing, leading to a memory leak. Align pad_compress_skb() semantics with realloc(): only free the old skb if allocation and compression succeed. At the call site, use the new_skb variable so the original skb is not lost when pad_compress_skb() fails.
Statement
A memory leak in PPP’s pad_compress_skb() could occur when alloc_skb() fails: the function returned NULL while the original skb reference was lost by the caller, leaking memory. The fix aligns the function with realloc semantics (only free on success) and updates the caller to use a temporary new_skb, preventing reference loss. Practically, impact is limited to availability on systems using PPP compression (e.g., MPPE) under allocation/pressure failures.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 5.3 | 5.5 | N/A |
| Attack Vector | Adjacent Network | Local | N/A |
| Attack Complexity | High | Low | N/A |
| Privileges Required | None | Low | N/A |
| User Interaction | None | None | N/A |
| Scope | Unchanged | Unchanged | N/A |
| Confidentiality | None | None | N/A |
| Integrity Impact | None | None | N/A |
| Availability Impact | High | High | N/A |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
NVD: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Resource Consumption (Other); DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory); DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU)
An attacker that can influence the allocation of resources that are not properly released could deplete the available resource pool and prevent all other processes from accessing the same type of resource. Frequently-affected resources include memory, CPU, disk space, power or battery, etc.
Frequently Asked Questions
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