Kernel crash via zero clock-rate divisor
Published May 9, 2025 · Updated May 11, 2026
Divide-by-zero in the MediaTek PWM driver in Linux allows local users to crash a specially configured kernel during PWM setup. pwm_mediatek_config() passes the zero returned by clk_get_rate() to do_div() without first rejecting the zero clock rate. Reachability requires CONFIG_COMPILE_TEST without CONFIG_HAVE_CLK, a theoretical combination because RALINK selects COMMON_CLK; the bounded consequence is a kernel crash.
Summary
What happened
Divide-by-zero in the MediaTek PWM driver in Linux allows local users to crash a specially configured kernel during PWM setup. pwm_mediatek_config() passes the zero returned by clk_get_rate() to do_div() without first rejecting the zero clock rate. Reachability requires CONFIG_COMPILE_TEST without CONFIG_HAVE_CLK, a theoretical combination because RALINK selects COMMON_CLK; the bounded consequence is a kernel crash.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-37850
- Published
- May 9, 2025
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-369
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 9, 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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Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=4.12
- Affected versionversion=caf065f8fd583b43a3f95d84c8a0a0d07597963b <4cb15042b5f3ec0474e91cf379120cc597625dbb
- Affected versionversion=caf065f8fd583b43a3f95d84c8a0a0d07597963b <77fb96dbe350e8a5ae4965ff9f6e7049f3966a6b
- Affected versionversion=caf065f8fd583b43a3f95d84c8a0a0d07597963b <7ca59947b5fcf94e7ea4029d1bd0f7c41500a161
- Affected versionversion=caf065f8fd583b43a3f95d84c8a0a0d07597963b <8b9f60725d74b72c238e4437c957d0217746b506
- Affected versionversion=caf065f8fd583b43a3f95d84c8a0a0d07597963b <8ddbec73ea2598d8414e8f7103241b55cf877010
- Affected versionversion=caf065f8fd583b43a3f95d84c8a0a0d07597963b <c343856ff2689ce0afef823592732fc178ef4aac
- Affected versionversion=caf065f8fd583b43a3f95d84c8a0a0d07597963b <e1206d8e1651c9f62e5640b69b14d925b1a0a00a
- Affected versionversion=caf065f8fd583b43a3f95d84c8a0a0d07597963b <e3cf0c38d3ce754ad63005102fcfeb0b7ff3290b
- Affected versionversion=caf065f8fd583b43a3f95d84c8a0a0d07597963b <f3e9cf266c2c103cf071e15d7a17e2c699fff3c5
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What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
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