Kernel crash via poisoned swapcache folio reclaim
Published May 8, 2025 · Updated May 11, 2026
Denial of service in Linux kernel mm/vmscan allows local users to crash the kernel by reclaiming a poisoned dirty swapcache folio. shrink_folio_list() returns the poisoned folio to the LRU after memory-failure handling clears its uptodate flag, so later reclaim passes it to add_to_swap() and triggers VM_BUG_ON_FOLIO. Exploitation requires local access, a dirty unlocked swapcache page, injected memory failure, process exit, and another reclaim cycle; the bounded consequence is a kernel crash.
Summary
What happened
Denial of service in Linux kernel mm/vmscan allows local users to crash the kernel by reclaiming a poisoned dirty swapcache folio. shrink_folio_list() returns the poisoned folio to the LRU after memory-failure handling clears its uptodate flag, so later reclaim passes it to add_to_swap() and triggers VM_BUG_ON_FOLIO. Exploitation requires local access, a dirty unlocked swapcache page, injected memory failure, process exit, and another reclaim cycle; the bounded consequence is a kernel crash.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-37834
- Published
- May 8, 2025
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1499.004
- 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
Present is not the same as exploitable
Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.
Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=2.6.32
- Affected versionversion=6a46079cf57a7f7758e8b926980a4f852f89b34d <1b0449544c6482179ac84530b61fc192a6527bfd
- Affected versionversion=6a46079cf57a7f7758e8b926980a4f852f89b34d <1c9798bf8145a92abf45aa9d38a6406d9eb8bdf0
- Affected versionversion=6a46079cf57a7f7758e8b926980a4f852f89b34d <912e9f0300c3564b72a8808db406e313193a37ad
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
No public exploit references are available in this record.
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
Check the software in your environment
Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.
Book a demo