CVE-2025-37936

Guest crash via unmasked PEBS enablement

Published May 20, 2025 · Updated Aug 5, 2026

Denial of service in Linux 6.0 through 6.14 allows local users to crash or hang KVM guests through a guest-only PEBS event. intel_guest_get_msrs() consults host-versus-guest masks but fails to intersect MSR_IA32_PEBS_ENABLE with the vCPU-requested value. A host user who can call perf_event_open() against a vCPU thread can force PEBS writes into an unprepared guest DS area, causing repeated page faults without endangering the host.

CVSS severity8.7
High
EPSS probability0.20%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Denial of service in Linux 6.0 through 6.14 allows local users to crash or hang KVM guests through a guest-only PEBS event. intel_guest_get_msrs() consults host-versus-guest masks but fails to intersect MSR_IA32_PEBS_ENABLE with the vCPU-requested value. A host user who can call perf_event_open() against a vCPU thread can force PEBS writes into an unprepared guest DS area, causing repeated page faults without endangering the host.

The record

CVE
CVE-2025-37936
Published
May 20, 2025
Updated
Aug 5, 2026
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
T1499.004
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. May 20, 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=6.0
  2. Affected versionversion=c59a1f106f5cd4843c097069ff1bb2ad72103a67 <160153cf9e4aa875ad086cc094ce34aac8e13d63
  3. Affected versionversion=c59a1f106f5cd4843c097069ff1bb2ad72103a67 <34b6fa11431aef71045ae5a00d90a7d630597eda
  4. Affected versionversion=c59a1f106f5cd4843c097069ff1bb2ad72103a67 <44ee0afc9d1e7a7c1932698de01362ed80cfc4b5
  5. Affected versionversion=c59a1f106f5cd4843c097069ff1bb2ad72103a67 <58f6217e5d0132a9f14e401e62796916aa055c1b
  6. Affected versionversion=c59a1f106f5cd4843c097069ff1bb2ad72103a67 <86aa62895fc2fb7ab09d7ca40fae8ad09841f66b

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=6.0; version=c59a1f106f5cd4843c097069ff1bb2ad72103a67 <160153cf9e4aa875ad086cc094ce34aac8e13d63; version=c59a1f106f5cd4843c097069ff1bb2ad72103a67 <34b6fa11431aef71045ae5a00d90a7d630597eda; version=c59a1f106f5cd4843c097069ff1bb2ad72103a67 <44ee0afc9d1e7a7c1932698de01362ed80cfc4b5; version=c59a1f106f5cd4843c097069ff1bb2ad72103a67 <58f6217e5d0132a9f14e401e62796916aa055c1b; version=c59a1f106f5cd4843c097069ff1bb2ad72103a67 <86aa62895fc2fb7ab09d7ca40fae8ad09841f66b

Published CVSS scores

8.7Linux CNACVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:H/A:H
5.5NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
7.0Amazon LinuxCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
5.5CanonicalCVSS: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

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

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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

T1499.004Application or System Exploitation

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

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Your stack

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