Answer in brief
CVE-2025-37878 records a Medium severity (CVSS 5.5) vulnerability in perf/core: Fix WARN_ON(!ctx) in __free_event() for partial init. The current sources do not mark it as known exploited. The current feed maps Linux/Linux (generic), Linux/Linux (generic). Check affected ranges and fixed versions before updating.
Analysis pending evidence review
HOL Guard separates source facts from reviewed analysis. See the methodology.
CVSS is 5.5. The current sources do not mark it as known exploited. Treat this as a source-backed prioritization signal, not a statement about your environment.
Analysis status
Analysis pending evidence review
Factual feed record only; HOL analysis is not approved for indexing. Read the methodology.
The current feed maps Linux/Linux (generic), Linux/Linux (generic). Check affected ranges and fixed versions before updating.
| Product | Affected versions | Fixed versions |
|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | Not reported | Not reported |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.15:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* | Not reported | Not reported |
| Package | Affected range | Fixed version |
|---|---|---|
| Linux/Linuxgeneric | >=7ef5aa081f989ecfecc1df02068a80aebbd3ec31 <90dc6c1e3b200812da8d0aa030e1b7fda8226d0e || >=1209b0b29fd472e7dbd2b06544b019dd9f9b7e51 <cb56cd11feabf99e08bc18960700a53322ffcea7 || >=c70ca298036c58a88686ff388d3d367e9d21acf0 <0ba3a4ab76fd3367b9cb680cad70182c896c795c || 315a50c6b1c6ce191f19f3372935d8e2ed9b53a6 || >=6.13.12 <6.14 | 90dc6c1e3b200812da8d0aa030e1b7fda8226d0e, cb56cd11feabf99e08bc18960700a53322ffcea7, 0ba3a4ab76fd3367b9cb680cad70182c896c795c, 6.14 |
| Linux/Linuxgeneric | >=6.12.24 <6.12.26 || >=6.14.3 <6.14.5 | 6.12.26, 6.14.5 |
Published upstream
May 9, 2025
Evidence: source:cvelist:source_dates:source-dates:recordSource modified
Nov 5, 2026
Evidence: source:cvelist:source_dates:source-dates:recordFirst seen by HOL
Nov 5, 2026
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: perf/core: Fix WARN_ON(!ctx) in __free_event() for partial init Move the get_ctx(child_ctx) call and the child_event->ctx assignment to occur immediately after the child event is allocated. Ensure that child_event->ctx is non-NULL before any subsequent error path within inherit_event calls free_event(), satisfying the assumptions of the cleanup code. Details: There's no clear Fixes tag, because this bug is a side-effect of multiple interacting commits over time (up to 15 years old), not a single regression. The code initially incremented refcount then assigned context immediately after the child_event was created. Later, an early validity check for child_event was added before the refcount/assignment. Even later, a WARN_ON_ONCE() cleanup check was added, assuming event->ctx is valid if the pmu_ctx is valid. The problem is that the WARN_ON_ONCE() could trigger after the initial check passed but before child_event->ctx was assigned, violating its precondition. The solution is to assign child_event->ctx right after its initial validation. This ensures the context exists for any subsequent checks or cleanup routines, resolving the WARN_ON_ONCE(). To resolve it, defer the refcount update and child_event->ctx assignment directly after child_event->pmu_ctx is set but before checking if the parent event is orphaned. The cleanup routine depends on event->pmu_ctx being non-NULL before it verifies event->ctx is non-NULL. This also maintains the author's original intent of passing in child_ctx to find_get_pmu_context before its refcount/assignment. [ mingo: Expanded the changelog from another email by Gabriel Shahrouzi. ]
Quoted source text, attributed separately from HOL analysis.