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CVE-2025-22037

ksmbd: fix null pointer dereference in alloc_preauth_hash()

EPSS 23.3%
In short

A network client can bypass security checks by skipping the proper negotiation phase and sending a malformed request, allowing it to proceed to session setup even though the connection isn't fully initialized. This causes the server to crash or behave unpredictably.

Technical detail

The vulnerability exists in ksmbd's alloc_preauth_hash() function where a null pointer dereference occurs if a client sends a malformed SMB2 negotiate request followed by a session setup request before negotiate phase completion. The attack vector is remote over the network (SMB2 protocol); the server fails to validate that conn->preauth_info is allocated before use. The impact is denial of service or potential information disclosure.

Summary generated and translated by AI from the official description.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ksmbd: fix null pointer dereference in alloc_preauth_hash() The Client send malformed smb2 negotiate request. ksmbd return error response. Subsequently, the client can send smb2 session setup even thought conn->preauth_info is not allocated. This patch add KSMBD_SESS_NEED_SETUP status of connection to ignore session setup request if smb2 negotiate phase is not complete.
Affected products
Linux · Linux

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