SOC status:Duty analyst on shift

UK Cyber Defence
VulnerabilityAnalyzed

CVE-2025-37953

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: sch_htb: make htb_deactivate() idempotent Alan reported a NULL pointer dereference in htb_next_rb_node() after we made htb_qlen_notify() idempotent.

MEDIUM 5.5EPSS 0.18%

Does this matter?

Lower severity and a low EPSS score (0.18%). Track it; it rarely justifies an emergency change on its own.

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: sch_htb: make htb_deactivate() idempotent Alan reported a NULL pointer dereference in htb_next_rb_node() after we made htb_qlen_notify() idempotent. It turns out in the following case it introduced some regression: htb_dequeue_tree(): |-> fq_codel_dequeue() |-> qdisc_tree_reduce_backlog() |-> htb_qlen_notify() |-> htb_deactivate() |-> htb_next_rb_node() |-> htb_deactivate() For htb_next_rb_node(), after calling the 1st htb_deactivate(), the clprio[prio]->ptr could be already set to NULL, which means htb_next_rb_node() is vulnerable here. For htb_deactivate(), although we checked qlen before calling it, in case of qlen==0 after qdisc_tree_reduce_backlog(), we may call it again which triggers the warning inside. To fix the issues here, we need to: 1) Make htb_deactivate() idempotent, that is, simply return if we already call it before. 2) Make htb_next_rb_node() safe against ptr==NULL. Many thanks to Alan for testing and for the reproducer.

CVSS 3.1
5.5 MEDIUMCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS
0.18% probability · 8th percentile
CISA KEV
Not listed
Weakness
CWE-476
Affected
linux/linux kernel · debian/debian linux
Source
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA. Refreshed daily.