Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-37974

Memory Safety in Linux Kernel 6.12.5 – 6.12.29

Published
20 May 2025
Modified
17 June 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 5.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0015 5th percentile
Risk Priority 35 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-37974 is a medium-severity NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476) vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 5.5 (Medium).

Operationally, ranked at the 5th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and SI-11 (Error Handling) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: s390/pci: Fix missing check for zpci_create_device() error return The zpci_create_device() function returns an error pointer that needs to be checked before dereferencing it as a struct zpci_dev pointer. Add the…

more

missing check in __clp_add() where it was missed when adding the scan_list in the fixed commit. Simply not adding the device to the scan list results in the previous behavior.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

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Affected Assets

linux
linux kernel
6.15 · 6.12.5 — 6.12.29 · 6.13 — 6.14.7

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
  • SI-10 Information Input Validation
  • SI-11 Error Handling
  • SI-16 Memory Protection
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

prevent

Directly requires validation of all inputs—including function return values such as the error pointer from zpci_create_device()—before any dereference in __clp_add().

prevent

Mandates explicit, safe handling of error conditions so that an unchecked error pointer cannot be treated as a valid zpci_dev structure.

prevent

Provides memory-protection mechanisms that can block or contain the invalid memory access resulting from the missing pointer check.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices (static analysis, code review, safe coding standards) directly prevent NULL dereference bugs during development.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

detects

Security testing can detect NULL dereference defects before release.

prevents

Secure SDLC mandates defensive coding practices that can prevent NULL dereferences.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify input validation and pointer-safety rules.

prevents

Secure architecture principles encourage defensive design that avoids unsafe pointer use.

prevents

Secure coding standards directly require NULL-pointer checks and safe dereference patterns.

References