CVE-2025-37849 | KVM: arm64: Tear down vGIC on failed vCPU creation

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: arm64: Tear down vGIC on failed vCPU creation If kvm_arch_vcpu_create() fails to share the vCPU page with the hypervisor, we propagate the error back to the ioctl but leave the vGIC vCPU data initialised. Note only does this leak the corresponding memory when the vCPU is destroyed but it can also lead to use-after-free if the redistributor device handling tries to walk into the vCPU. Add the missing cleanup to kvm_arch_vcpu_create(), ensuring that the vGIC vCPU structures are destroyed on error.

Published: 2025-05-09 Last update: 2025-11-17 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-37849 is rated Low Risk (37.2/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.06%). Mandatory action: 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-2025-37849

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 2026-03-05 0.02% 0.06% +0.03%
2 2025-05-09 0.02%

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-37849

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-2025-37849

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-37849

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2025-37849 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 2 source packages (linux, linux-6.1), 6 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5, open 1. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-37849
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-37849
suse medium https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-37849/
ubuntu high CVE-2025-37849 high 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, released 174, ignored 164, not-affected 36, pending 26, needed 4, needs-triage 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-37849

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-37849

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel < 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, < 6.12.24 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.13, < 6.13.12 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.14, < 6.14.3 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 11.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2025-37849

cvelogic Threat Intelligence