CVE-2025-37878perf/core: Fix WARN_ON(!ctx) in __free_event() for partial init
- 5.5MediumCVSS base score
- 0.28%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 80% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- NonePublic exploitsnone known yet
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: perf/core: Fix WARN_ON(!ctx) in __free_event() for partial init Move the get_ctx(child_ctx) call and the child_event->ctx assignment to occur immediately after the child event is allocated. Ensure that child_event->ctx is non-NULL before any subsequent error path within inherit_event calls free_event(), satisfying the assumptions of the cleanup code. Details: There's no clear Fixes tag, because this bug is a side-effect of multiple interacting commits over time (up to 15 years old), not a single regression. The code initially incremented refcount then assigned context immediately after the child_event was created. Later, an early validity check for child_event was added before the refcount/assignment. Even later, a WARN_ON_ONCE() cleanup check was added, assuming event->ctx is valid if the pmu_ctx is valid. The problem is that the WARN_ON_ONCE() could trigger after the initial check passed but before child_event->ctx was assigned, violating its precondition. The solution is to assign child_event->ctx right after its initial validation. This ensures the context exists for any subsequent checks or cleanup routines, resolving the WARN_ON_ONCE(). To resolve it, defer the refcount update and child_event->ctx assignment directly after child_event->pmu_ctx is set but before checking if the parent event is orphaned. The cleanup routine depends on event->pmu_ctx being non-NULL before it verifies event->ctx is non-NULL. This also maintains the author's original intent of passing in child_ctx to find_get_pmu_context before its refcount/assignment. [ mingo: Expanded the changelog from another email by Gabriel Shahrouzi. ]
Timeline
ID reserved
By Linux
- 23 days later
· 23 days later
Published
- 18 months later
· 18 months later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| NVDNVD · Modified | 3.1 | Medium5.5 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.28% · top 80% of all CVEs (13 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: none · Automatable: no · Technical impact: partial
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Medium 5.5.
Affected products
- affected 7ef5aa081f989ecfecc1df02068a80aebbd3ec31 – < 90dc6c1e3b200812da8d0aa030e1b7fda8226d0e
- affected 1209b0b29fd472e7dbd2b06544b019dd9f9b7e51 – < cb56cd11feabf99e08bc18960700a53322ffcea7
- affected c70ca298036c58a88686ff388d3d367e9d21acf0 – < 0ba3a4ab76fd3367b9cb680cad70182c896c795c
- affected 315a50c6b1c6ce191f19f3372935d8e2ed9b53a6
- affected 6.13.12 – < 6.14
- affected 6.12.24 – < 6.12.26
- affected 6.14.3 – < 6.14.5
References
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2025-14112 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2025-37878)Record last updated .