CVE-2025-37849

Local privilege escalation via stale vGIC state

Published May 9, 2025 · Updated Aug 5, 2026

Use-after-free in the arm64 KVM subsystem in Linux allows local users in the kvm group to escalate privileges during vCPU creation. When kvm_arch_vcpu_create() fails to share a vCPU page with the hypervisor, it returns the ioctl error without destroying initialized vGIC vCPU structures. Membership in the kvm group and an arm64 host with KVM are required; redistributor handling can traverse the stale state after free or leak its memory.

CVSS severity8.8
High
EPSS probability0.26%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
Coverage for this vulnerability

See if you're affected

Explore vulnerability checks for your environment with Hinoki.

Book a demo

Summary

What happened

Use-after-free in the arm64 KVM subsystem in Linux allows local users in the kvm group to escalate privileges during vCPU creation. When kvm_arch_vcpu_create() fails to share a vCPU page with the hypervisor, it returns the ioctl error without destroying initialized vGIC vCPU structures. Membership in the kvm group and an arm64 host with KVM are required; redistributor handling can traverse the stale state after free or leak its memory.

The record

CVE
CVE-2025-37849
Published
May 9, 2025
Updated
Aug 5, 2026
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
CWE-416, T1068
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. May 9, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 5, 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.

  1. Affected versionversion=3.11
  2. Affected versionversion=6211753fdfd05af9e08f54c8d0ba3ee516034878 <07476e0d932afc53c05468076393ac35d0b4999e
  3. Affected versionversion=6211753fdfd05af9e08f54c8d0ba3ee516034878 <2480326eba8ae9ccc5e4c3c2dc8d407db68e3c52
  4. Affected versionversion=6211753fdfd05af9e08f54c8d0ba3ee516034878 <250f25367b58d8c65a1b060a2dda037eea09a672
  5. Affected versionversion=6211753fdfd05af9e08f54c8d0ba3ee516034878 <5085e02362b9948f82fceca979b8f8e12acb1cc5
  6. Affected versionversion=6211753fdfd05af9e08f54c8d0ba3ee516034878 <c322789613407647a05ff5c451a7bf545fb34e73
  7. Affected versionversion=6211753fdfd05af9e08f54c8d0ba3ee516034878 <f1e9087abaeedec9bf2894a282ee4f0d8383f299

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=3.11; version=6211753fdfd05af9e08f54c8d0ba3ee516034878 <07476e0d932afc53c05468076393ac35d0b4999e; version=6211753fdfd05af9e08f54c8d0ba3ee516034878 <2480326eba8ae9ccc5e4c3c2dc8d407db68e3c52; version=6211753fdfd05af9e08f54c8d0ba3ee516034878 <250f25367b58d8c65a1b060a2dda037eea09a672; version=6211753fdfd05af9e08f54c8d0ba3ee516034878 <5085e02362b9948f82fceca979b8f8e12acb1cc5; version=6211753fdfd05af9e08f54c8d0ba3ee516034878 <c322789613407647a05ff5c451a7bf545fb34e73; version=6211753fdfd05af9e08f54c8d0ba3ee516034878 <f1e9087abaeedec9bf2894a282ee4f0d8383f299

Published CVSS scores

5.5Amazon LinuxCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
7.8UbuntuCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
8.8Linux kernel CNACVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

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.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-416Use After Free
T1068Exploitation for Privilege Escalation

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