Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2025-37955

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-05-20
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.12.29 / 6.14.7 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click Patch available

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 · unedited
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: virtio-net: free xsk_buffs on error in virtnet_xsk_pool_enable() The selftests added to our CI by Bui Quang Minh recently reveals that there is a mem leak on the error path of virtnet_xsk_pool_enable(): unreferenced object 0xffff88800a68a000 (size 2048): comm "xdp_helper", pid 318, jiffies 4294692778 hex dump (first 32 bytes): 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ backtrace (crc 0): __kvmalloc_node_noprof+0x402/0x570 virtnet_xsk_pool_enable+0x293/0x6a0 (drivers/net/virtio_net.c:5882) xp_assign_dev+0x369/0x670 (net/xdp/xsk_buff_pool.c:226) xsk_bind+0x6a5/0x1ae0 __sys_bind+0x15e/0x230 __x64_sys_bind+0x72/0xb0 do_syscall_64+0xc1/0x1d0 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f

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 analysis
How this class of weakness works · CWE-401

Allocated memory is never released on some path, so a long-running service or a repeatedly triggered request steadily consumes memory until performance degrades or the process crashes. Attackers exploit it by simply driving the leaking path. Remediation is pairing every allocation with a release and using ownership patterns or tooling to catch what leaks.

General guidance for the memory leak 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
Linux KernelOperating system
Affected:>= 6.11, < 6.12.29>= 6.13, < 6.14.7= 6.15

CVSS 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 · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 6.12.29 / 6.14.7 or later
Fixed in 6.12.296.14.7
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

6.12.29, 6.14.7, or 6.15.1 (depending on which branch you are on)

  1. Upgrade the Linux kernel to version 6.12.29 or later if currently running 6.12.x (>=6.11, <6.12.29)
  2. Upgrade the Linux kernel to version 6.14.7 or later if currently running 6.13.x or 6.14.x (>=6.13, <6.14.7)
  3. Upgrade the Linux kernel to version 6.15.1 or later if currently running 6.15
  4. After kernel upgrade, reboot the system to load the fixed kernel version
  5. Verify the fix is applied by checking the kernel version: `uname -r`
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require system reboot and could have compatibility implications with custom kernel modules or specific hardware drivers; ensure backups and test in staging if possible

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $1,600. Get the upgrade done

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-37955 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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