False memory-leak reports via misaligned pointer store
Published May 8, 2025 · Updated May 11, 2026
Memory-leak detection failure in Linux kernel BPF percpu hash maps allows local users to trigger false unreferenced-object reports. htab_elem_set_ptr stores the percpu pointer at l->key + key_size, so a four-byte key leaves the eight-byte pointer only four-byte aligned and kmemleak's eight-byte scan misses it. Reproduction requires CONFIG_DEBUG_KMEMLEAK and retaining the map during the BPF selftest; the demonstrated consequence is a false kmemleak warning rather than an actual lost allocation.
Summary
What happened
Memory-leak detection failure in Linux kernel BPF percpu hash maps allows local users to trigger false unreferenced-object reports. htab_elem_set_ptr stores the percpu pointer at l->key + key_size, so a four-byte key leaves the eight-byte pointer only four-byte aligned and kmemleak's eight-byte scan misses it. Reproduction requires CONFIG_DEBUG_KMEMLEAK and retaining the map during the BPF selftest; the demonstrated consequence is a false kmemleak warning rather than an actual lost allocation.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-37807
- Published
- May 8, 2025
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-401
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 8, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 11, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
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- Affected versionversion=4.6
- Affected versionversion=824bd0ce6c7c43a9e1e210abf124958e54d88342 <11ba7ce076e5903e7bdc1fd1498979c331b3c286
- Affected versionversion=824bd0ce6c7c43a9e1e210abf124958e54d88342 <1f1c29aa1934177349c17e3c32e68ec38a7a56df
- Affected versionversion=824bd0ce6c7c43a9e1e210abf124958e54d88342 <7758e308aeda1038aba1944f7302d34161b3effe
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Attacks
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