CVE-2025-37841

Local benchmark crash via unchecked allocation

Published May 9, 2025 · Updated May 11, 2026

NULL pointer dereference in the Linux cpupower benchmark allows local users to crash the process under low-memory conditions. prepare_default_config() assigns the malloc result to config and uses it without verifying that allocation succeeded. Reachability requires local execution of cpupower bench while allocation fails; the reported consequence is a user-space benchmark crash, not a kernel crash.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.28%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

NULL pointer dereference in the Linux cpupower benchmark allows local users to crash the process under low-memory conditions. prepare_default_config() assigns the malloc result to config and uses it without verifying that allocation succeeded. Reachability requires local execution of cpupower bench while allocation fails; the reported consequence is a user-space benchmark crash, not a kernel crash.

The record

CVE
CVE-2025-37841
Published
May 9, 2025
Updated
May 11, 2026
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
CWE-476
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. May 9, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. 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.

  1. Affected versionversion=3.1
  2. Affected versionversion=7fe2f6399a84760a9af8896ac152728250f82adb <0e297a02e03dceb2874789ca40bd4e65c5371704
  3. Affected versionversion=7fe2f6399a84760a9af8896ac152728250f82adb <208baa3ec9043a664d9acfb8174b332e6b17fb69
  4. Affected versionversion=7fe2f6399a84760a9af8896ac152728250f82adb <34a9394794b0f97af6afedc0c9ee2012c24b28ed
  5. Affected versionversion=7fe2f6399a84760a9af8896ac152728250f82adb <5e38122aa3fd0f9788186e86a677925bfec0b2d1
  6. Affected versionversion=7fe2f6399a84760a9af8896ac152728250f82adb <79bded9d70142d2a11d931fc029afece471641db
  7. Affected versionversion=7fe2f6399a84760a9af8896ac152728250f82adb <87b9f0867c0afa7e892f4b30c36cff6bf2707f85
  8. Affected versionversion=7fe2f6399a84760a9af8896ac152728250f82adb <942a4b97fc77516678b1d8af1521ff9a94c13b3e
  9. Affected versionversion=7fe2f6399a84760a9af8896ac152728250f82adb <ceec06f464d5cfc0ba966225f7d50506ceb62242
  10. Affected versionversion=7fe2f6399a84760a9af8896ac152728250f82adb <f8d28fa305b78c5d1073b63f26db265ba8291ae1

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=3.1; version=7fe2f6399a84760a9af8896ac152728250f82adb <0e297a02e03dceb2874789ca40bd4e65c5371704; version=7fe2f6399a84760a9af8896ac152728250f82adb <208baa3ec9043a664d9acfb8174b332e6b17fb69; version=7fe2f6399a84760a9af8896ac152728250f82adb <34a9394794b0f97af6afedc0c9ee2012c24b28ed; version=7fe2f6399a84760a9af8896ac152728250f82adb <5e38122aa3fd0f9788186e86a677925bfec0b2d1; version=7fe2f6399a84760a9af8896ac152728250f82adb <79bded9d70142d2a11d931fc029afece471641db; version=7fe2f6399a84760a9af8896ac152728250f82adb <87b9f0867c0afa7e892f4b30c36cff6bf2707f85; version=7fe2f6399a84760a9af8896ac152728250f82adb <942a4b97fc77516678b1d8af1521ff9a94c13b3e; version=7fe2f6399a84760a9af8896ac152728250f82adb <ceec06f464d5cfc0ba966225f7d50506ceb62242; version=7fe2f6399a84760a9af8896ac152728250f82adb <f8d28fa305b78c5d1073b63f26db265ba8291ae1

Published CVSS scores

5.5NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

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No observations available

Sep 9, 2026Sep 15, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 15, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-476NULL Pointer Dereference

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

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Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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