CVE-2025-37821
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedIn 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.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysisThe code follows a pointer that is null, crashing the process. An attacker who can reliably trigger it turns the crash into a denial of service. The fix is checking for null before use and handling the failure path gracefully.
General guidance for the null pointer dereference class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data>= 6.12, < 6.12.29>= 6.13, < 6.14.5= 6.15CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
dbcve · scoped6.12.296.14.5
6.12.29, 6.14.5, or later stable releases
- Upgrade the Linux kernel to version 6.12.29 or later if running kernel 6.12.x
- Upgrade the Linux kernel to version 6.14.5 or later if running kernel 6.13.x
- Upgrade the Linux kernel to the latest stable release (6.15.x or later) if running kernel 6.15
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-37821 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-37821 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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