CVE-2025-37778 | ksmbd: Fix dangling pointer in krb_authenticate

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ksmbd: Fix dangling pointer in krb_authenticate krb_authenticate frees sess->user and does not set the pointer to NULL. It calls ksmbd_krb5_authenticate to reinitialise sess->user but that function may return without doing so. If that happens then smb2_sess_setup, which calls krb_authenticate, will be accessing free'd memory when it later uses sess->user.

Published: 2025-05-01 Last update: 2026-04-18 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2025-37778 is rated Low Risk (38.7/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.07%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2025-37778

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-02-25 0.03% 0.07% +0.04%
2 2026-02-14 0.05% 0.03% -0.02%
3 2026-01-04 — 0.05% —

Full EPSS history (8 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-37778

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-37778

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2025-37778

GHSA-45gw-fx24-h4pv · Severity: high — In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ksmbd: Fix dangling pointer...

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-37778

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2025-37778 unimportant priority: Debian including 2 source packages (linux, linux-6.1), 6 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 6. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-37778
redhat — — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-37778
suse medium CVE-2025-37778 severity moderate: SUSE including 26 source package names (cluster-md-kmp-default, dlm-kmp-default, …), 267 product×package rows across 51 product lines (SLES-LTSS-TERADATA 15 SP2, SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7, … (51 product lines)): Known Not Affected 267. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-37778/
ubuntu medium CVE-2025-37778 medium priority: Ubuntu including 158 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1551 status rows across 10 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1145, ignored 168, released 130, needed 77, not-affected 28, needs-triage 2, pending 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-37778

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-37778

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 5.15, < 6.1.135 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.2, < 6.6.88 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.7, < 6.12.25 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.13, < 6.14.4 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.15 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.15:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.15 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.15:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 11.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2025-37778

cvelogic Threat Intelligence