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medium 5.5

CVE-2025-37821 json

sched/eevdf: Fix se->slice being set to U64_MAX and resulting crash

published last yr. modified 4mo ago also EUVD-2025-13981

cvss
5.5
version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.2%
EPSS 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 8%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

sched/eevdf: Fix se->slice being set to U64_MAX and resulting crash

There is a code path in dequeue_entities() that can set the slice of a sched_entity to U64_MAX, which sometimes results in a crash.

The offending case is when dequeue_entities() is called to dequeue a delayed group entity, and then the entity's parent's dequeue is delayed. In that case:

1. In the if (entity_is_task(se)) else block at the beginning of dequeue_entities(), slice is set to cfs_rq_min_slice(group_cfs_rq(se)). If the entity was delayed, then it has no queued tasks, so cfs_rq_min_slice() returns U64_MAX. 2. The first for_each_sched_entity() loop dequeues the entity. 3. If the entity was its parent's only child, then the next iteration tries to dequeue the parent. 4. If the parent's dequeue needs to be delayed, then it breaks from the first for_each_sched_entity() loop _without updating slice_. 5. The second for_each_sched_entity() loop sets the parent's ->slice to the saved slice, which is still U64_MAX.

This throws off subsequent calculations with potentially catastrophic results. A manifestation we saw in production was:

6. In update_entity_lag(), se->slice is used to calculate limit, which ends up as a huge negative number. 7. limit is used in se->vlag = clamp(vlag, -limit, limit). Because limit is negative, vlag > limit, so se->vlag is set to the same huge negative number. 8. In place_entity(), se->vlag is scaled, which overflows and results in another huge (positive or negative) number. 9. The adjusted lag is subtracted from se->vruntime, which increases or decreases se->vruntime by a huge number. 10. pick_eevdf() calls entity_eligible()/vruntime_eligible(), which incorrectly returns false because the vruntime is so far from the other vruntimes on the queue, causing the (vruntime - cfs_rq->min_vruntime) * load calulation to overflow. 11. Nothing appears to be eligible, so pick_eevdf() returns NULL. 12. pick_next_entity() tries to dereference the return value of pick_eevdf() and crashes.

Dumping the cfs_rq states from the core dumps with drgn showed tell-tale huge vruntime ranges and bogus vlag values, and I also traced se->slice being set to U64_MAX on live systems (which was usually "benign" since the rest of the runqueue needed to be in a particular state to crash).

Fix it in dequeue_entities() by always setting slice from the first non-empty cfs_rq.

Patch / fix

  • Linux Linux 6.12.29, 6.14.5, 6.15
  • linux Debian 14, Debian 13 6.12.29-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2025-37821

  • linux-gcp-6.14 Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.14.0-1011.11~24.04.1
  • linux-realtime-6.14 Ubuntu Pro Realtime 24.04 LTS 6.14.0-1010.10~24.04.1

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2025-37821

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • kernel RHEL 10.1 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1
  • rv RHEL 10.1 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1
  • perf RHEL 10.1 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1
  • rtla RHEL 10.1 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1
  • libperf RHEL 10.1 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1
  • kernel-rt RHEL 10.1 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1
  • kernel-64k RHEL 10.1 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1
  • kernel-core RHEL 10.1 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1

red hat advisories RHSA-2025:20095

  • kernel-rt Linux Micro 6.2 6.12.0-160000.6.1
  • kernel-64kb SLES 16.0, Linux Micro 6.2, SLES for SAP applications 16.0 6.12.0-160000.6.1
  • kernel-source SLES 16.0, Linux Micro 6.2, SLES for SAP applications 16.0 6.12.0-160000.6.1
  • kernel-default SLES 16.0, SLE High Availability Extension 16.0, Linux Micro 6.2 +1 more 6.12.0-160000.6.1
  • kernel-default-base SLES 16.0, Linux Micro 6.2, SLES for SAP applications 16.0 6.12.0-160000.6.1.160000.2.4
  • kernel-syms SLES 16.0, Linux Micro Extras 6.2, SLES for SAP applications 16.0 6.12.0-160000.6.1
  • kernel-obs-qa SLES for SAP applications 16.0, SLES 16.0 6.12.0-160000.6.1
  • kernel-kvmsmall SLES for SAP applications 16.0, SLES 16.0 6.12.0-160000.6.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2025:21074-1SUSE-SU-2025:21139-1SUSE-SU-2026:20560-1SUSE-SU-2025:21179-1

  • kernel-rt openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.6.1
  • dtb-aarch64 openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.6.1
  • kernel-64kb openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.6.1
  • kernel-syms openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.6.1
  • kernel-obs-qa openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.6.1
  • kernel-source openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.6.1
  • kernel-default openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.6.1
  • kernel-kvmsmall openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.6.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2025:20081-1

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Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2025-37821 updated cvss 5.5

kernel: sched/eevdf: Fix se->slice being set to U64_MAX and resulting crash

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 10) rv 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, perf 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, rtla 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, python3-perf 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-devel-matched 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-64k-devel-matched 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, +7 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 10) kernel 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-64k 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-core 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-tools 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-modules 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-64k-core 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, +28 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux CodeReady Linux Builder (v. 10) libperf 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-debuginfo-common-s390x 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-debuginfo-common-aarch64 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time (v. 10) kernel-rt 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-rt-64k 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-rt-core 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-rt-modules 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-rt-64k-core 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-rt-debug-core 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, +14 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time for NFV (v. 10) kernel-rt 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-rt-core 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-rt-modules 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-rt-debug-core 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-rt-modules-core 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, kernel-rt-debug-modules 6.12.0-124.8.1.el10_1, +4 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2025:20095
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, python-perf, kernel-kdump, +8 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, kernel-core, kernel-tools, +29 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 rv, perf, rtla, kernel, bpftool, libperf, +83 more
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Exploit prediction

0.19% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 8% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.1 5.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Affected products

  • Linux Linux

Classification

Weakness
Technology feeds

References

Sources

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