Service interruption via allocation-error memory leak
Published May 1, 2025 · Updated May 11, 2026
Memory leak in affected Linux kernel releases allows local users to exhaust memory through the cxgb4 filter-initialization error path. The cxgb4_init_ethtool_filters() loop retains the current port's loc_array when bmap allocation fails because cleanup begins with the preceding iteration. Exploitation requires low-privilege local access and that allocation-failure sequence; the bounded consequence is service interruption through memory exhaustion.
Summary
What happened
Memory leak in affected Linux kernel releases allows local users to exhaust memory through the cxgb4 filter-initialization error path. The cxgb4_init_ethtool_filters() loop retains the current port's loc_array when bmap allocation fails because cleanup begins with the preceding iteration. Exploitation requires low-privilege local access and that allocation-failure sequence; the bounded consequence is service interruption through memory exhaustion.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-37788
- Published
- May 1, 2025
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-401, T1499.004
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 1, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 11, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=5.9
- Affected versionversion=d915c299f1da68a7dbb43895b8741c7b916c9d08 <00ffb3724ce743578163f5ade2884374554ca021
- Affected versionversion=d915c299f1da68a7dbb43895b8741c7b916c9d08 <08aa59c0be768596467552c129e9f82166779a67
- Affected versionversion=d915c299f1da68a7dbb43895b8741c7b916c9d08 <118d05b530343cd9322607b9719405ba254a4183
- Affected versionversion=d915c299f1da68a7dbb43895b8741c7b916c9d08 <76deedea08899885f076aba0bb80bd1276446822
- Affected versionversion=d915c299f1da68a7dbb43895b8741c7b916c9d08 <dafb6e433ab2333b67be05433dc9c6ccbc7b1284
- Affected versionversion=d915c299f1da68a7dbb43895b8741c7b916c9d08 <e9de08e15aee35b96064960f95997bb6c1209c4b
- Affected versionversion=d915c299f1da68a7dbb43895b8741c7b916c9d08 <fa2d7708955e4f8212fd69bab1da604e60cb0b15
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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