CVE-2025-40234

Vulnerability

Overview

In the Linux kernel, the alienware-wmi-wmax driver for Alienware WMI hardware contains a NULL pointer dereference vulnerability in its sleep handlers (suspend/resume). The root cause is that devices lacking the AWCC (Alienware Command Center) interface do not initialize the awcc structure pointer. When the system enters or resumes from sleep, the driver attempts to dereference this uninitialized pointer, leading to a kernel crash [1].

Exploitation

Prerequisites

An attacker would need to have local access to a system running a vulnerable kernel version and must be able to trigger a suspend/resume cycle. No special privileges beyond the ability to initiate system sleep are required. The vulnerability is present in the driver's sleep callbacks, which are invoked during power management transitions [1].

Impact

Successful exploitation results in a denial of service (DoS) via kernel panic or crash. The NULL pointer dereference causes an immediate oops, unrecoverable system halt, requiring a reboot. There is no indication of privilege escalation or data corruption beyond the crash itself [1].

Mitigation

The fix has been applied in the Linux kernel stable tree via commit a49c4d48c3b6. Users should update to a kernel version containing this patch. No workaround is available other than avoiding suspend/resume on affected hardware or unloading the alienware-wmi-wmax module if not needed [1].