In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: sch_htb: make htb_deactivate() idempotent Alan reported a NULL pointer dereference in htb_next_rb_node() after we made htb_qlen_notify() idempotent. It turns out in the following case it introduced some regression: htb_dequeue_tree(): |-> fq_codel_dequeue() |-> qdisc_tree_reduce_backlog() |-> htb_qlen_notify() |-> htb_deactivate() |-> htb_next_rb_node() |-> htb_deactivate() For htb_next_rb_node(), after calling the 1st htb_deactivate(), the clprio[prio]->ptr could be already set to NULL, which means htb_next_rb_node() is vulnerable here. For htb_deactivate(), although we checked qlen before calling it, in case of qlen==0 after qdisc_tree_reduce_backlog(), we may call it again which triggers the warning inside. To fix the issues here, we need to: 1) Make htb_deactivate() idempotent, that is, simply return if we already call it before. 2) Make htb_next_rb_node() safe against ptr==NULL. Many thanks to Alan for testing and for the reproducer.
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-37953 is rated Low Risk (32.8/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.12%). 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.
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 | 2026-03-16 | 0.03% | 0.12% | +0.09% |
| 2 | 2025-12-18 | 0.06% | 0.03% | -0.03% |
| 3 | 2025-10-28 | — | 0.06% | — |
Full EPSS history (6 records total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5.5 | 3.1 | MEDIUM |
|
1.8 | 3.6 | [email protected] |
| vendor | priority | summary | link |
|---|---|---|---|
debian
|
unimportant | CVE-2025-37953 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-2025-37953 |
redhat
|
medium | — | https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-37953 |
suse
|
medium | — | https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-37953/ |
ubuntu
|
medium | CVE-2025-37953 medium priority: Ubuntu including 144 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1288 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, oracular, plucky, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 924, ignored 146, not-affected 140, released 78. | https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-37953 |
| Vendor | Product | Version | Raw CPE |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.1.138 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.1.138:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.6.90 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.6.90:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.12.28 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.12.28:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.14.6 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.14.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.15 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.15:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.15 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.15:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.15 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.15:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.15 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.15:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| debian | debian_linux | 11.0 | cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |