Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-37964

Linux Kernel 5.15.179 – 5.15.183

Published
20 May 2025
Modified
30 July 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0019 8th percentile
Risk Priority 55 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2025-37964 is a high-severity an unspecified weakness vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).

Operationally, ranked at the 8th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: x86/mm: Eliminate window where TLB flushes may be inadvertently skipped tl;dr: There is a window in the mm switching code where the new CR3 is set and the CPU should…

more

be getting TLB flushes for the new mm. But should_flush_tlb() has a bug and suppresses the flush. Fix it by widening the window where should_flush_tlb() sends an IPI. Long Version: === History === There were a few things leading up to this. First, updating mm_cpumask() was observed to be too expensive, so it was made lazier. But being lazy caused too many unnecessary IPIs to CPUs due to the now-lazy mm_cpumask(). So code was added to cull mm_cpumask() periodically[2]. But that culling was a bit too aggressive and skipped sending TLB flushes to CPUs that need them. So here we are again. === Problem === The too-aggressive code in should_flush_tlb() strikes in this window: // Turn on IPIs for this CPU/mm combination, but only // if should_flush_tlb() agrees: cpumask_set_cpu(cpu, mm_cpumask(next)); next_tlb_gen = atomic64_read(&next->context.tlb_gen); choose_new_asid(next, next_tlb_gen, &new_asid, &need_flush); load_new_mm_cr3(need_flush); // ^ After 'need_flush' is set to false, IPIs *MUST* // be sent to this CPU and not be ignored. this_cpu_write(cpu_tlbstate.loaded_mm, next); // ^ Not until this point does should_flush_tlb() // become true! should_flush_tlb() will suppress TLB flushes between load_new_mm_cr3() and writing to 'loaded_mm', which is a window where they should not be suppressed. Whoops. === Solution === Thankfully, the fuzzy "just about to write CR3" window is already marked with loaded_mm==LOADED_MM_SWITCHING. Simply checking for that state in should_flush_tlb() is sufficient to ensure that the CPU is targeted with an IPI. This will cause more TLB flush IPIs. But the window is relatively small and I do not expect this to cause any kind of measurable performance impact. Update the comment where LOADED_MM_SWITCHING is written since it grew yet another user. Peter Z also raised a concern that should_flush_tlb() might not observe 'loaded_mm' and 'is_lazy' in the same order that switch_mm_irqs_off() writes them. Add a barrier to ensure that they are observed in the order they are written.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-38425Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-38236Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-37913Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2024-35819Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-39734Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2024-26751Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2024-41000Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-38222Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-38328Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2024-39494Same product: Debian Debian Linux

Affected Assets

linux
linux kernel
6.15 · 5.15.179 — 5.15.183 · 6.1.129 — 6.1.139 · 6.6.79 — 6.6.91
debian
debian linux
11.0

Mitigating Controls

No mitigating controls mapped yet. The per-CVE control annotator has not reached this CVE.

References