CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2025-39928 — Linux Linux Kernel security vulnerability

Medium CVSS 5.5

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: i2c: rtl9300: ensure data length is within supported range Add an explicit check for the xfer length to 'rtl9300_i2c_config_xfer' to ensure the data length isn't within the supported range. In particular a data length of 0 is not supported by the hardware and causes unintended or destructive behaviour. This limitation becomes obvious when looking at the register documentation [1]. 4 bits are reserved for DATA_WIDTH and the value of these 4 bits is used as N + 1, allowing a data length range of 1 <= len <= 16. Affected by this is the SMBus Quick Operation which works with a data length of 0. Passing 0 as the length causes an underflow of the value due to: (len - 1) & 0xf and effectively specifying a transfer length of 16 via the registers. This causes a 16-byte write operation instead of a Quick Write. For example, on SFP modules without write-protected EEPROM this soft-bricks them by overwriting some initial bytes. For completeness, also add a quirk for the zero length. [1] https://svanheule.net/realtek/longan/register/i2c_mst1_ctrl2

Severity
Medium
CVSS
5.5 (3.1)
Published
2025-10-01
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
linux/kernel
Weaknesses
CWE-191

Affected products

  • linux / linux_kernel
  • linux / linux_kernel / 6.17

Showing 2 representative product identities from 5 source matches. Confirm exact affected versions with the linked vendor and NVD evidence.

Matched remediation archetype

General vulnerability remediation

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Check exposure

  • Confirm the affected component, deployment paths, reachable interfaces, and enabled features from inventories and configuration, without probing production destructively.
  • Compare the advisory's affected conditions with the repository lockfiles, build manifests, artifacts, and runtime inventory.
  • Identify data sensitivity, trust boundaries, and privilege level for every confirmed affected deployment.

Remediate safely

  • Apply a vendor-supported fix or remove the affected component or feature; record the selected change and its source in the repository.
  • Update direct and transitive dependency locks, generated artifacts, deployment manifests, and asset inventories together.
  • Add a regression test for the documented unsafe condition using inert inputs and preserve rollback instructions.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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