CVE-2025-37957

Guest-to-host memory compromise via stale SMM state

Published May 20, 2025 · Updated Aug 5, 2026

State confusion in Linux KVM allows guest OS users to read or write host memory and crash the host through an SMM triple fault. The SVM shutdown_interception path forces INIT without first leaving SMM, preserving an SMM-tagged MMU root while KVM treats the vCPU as outside SMM. Exploitation requires AMD SVM plus guest ring-0 execution or local access to /dev/kvm, and the resulting access crosses the VM boundary.

CVSS severity8.7
High
EPSS probability0.18%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

State confusion in Linux KVM allows guest OS users to read or write host memory and crash the host through an SMM triple fault. The SVM shutdown_interception path forces INIT without first leaving SMM, preserving an SMM-tagged MMU root while KVM treats the vCPU as outside SMM. Exploitation requires AMD SVM plus guest ring-0 execution or local access to /dev/kvm, and the resulting access crosses the VM boundary.

The record

CVE
CVE-2025-37957
Published
May 20, 2025
Updated
Aug 5, 2026
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
T1068
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=5.15.81 <5.16
  2. Affected versionversion=6.0.11 <6.1
  3. Affected versionversion=6.1
  4. Affected versionversion=6425c590d0cc6914658a630a40b7f8226aa028c3
  5. Affected versionversion=d40ef0a511676bd65ca9acb295430c07af59ab85
  6. Affected versionversion=ed129ec9057f89d615ba0c81a4984a90345a1684 <a2620f8932fa9fdabc3d78ed6efb004ca409019f
  7. Affected versionversion=ed129ec9057f89d615ba0c81a4984a90345a1684 <d362b21fefcef7eda8f1cd78a5925735d2b3287c
  8. Affected versionversion=ed129ec9057f89d615ba0c81a4984a90345a1684 <e9b28bc65fd3a56755ba503258024608292b4ab1
  9. Affected versionversion=ed129ec9057f89d615ba0c81a4984a90345a1684 <ec24e62a1dd3540ee696314422040180040c1e4a

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=5.15.81 <5.16; version=6.0.11 <6.1; version=6.1; version=6425c590d0cc6914658a630a40b7f8226aa028c3; version=d40ef0a511676bd65ca9acb295430c07af59ab85; version=ed129ec9057f89d615ba0c81a4984a90345a1684 <a2620f8932fa9fdabc3d78ed6efb004ca409019f; version=ed129ec9057f89d615ba0c81a4984a90345a1684 <d362b21fefcef7eda8f1cd78a5925735d2b3287c; version=ed129ec9057f89d615ba0c81a4984a90345a1684 <e9b28bc65fd3a56755ba503258024608292b4ab1; version=ed129ec9057f89d615ba0c81a4984a90345a1684 <ec24e62a1dd3540ee696314422040180040c1e4a

Published CVSS scores

8.7Linux kernel CVE teamCVSS: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

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

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Your stack

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