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...

Classification

CVE ID: CVE-2025-37878

Affected Products

Vendor: Linux

Product: Linux

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

EPSS Score: 0.02% (probability of being exploited)

EPSS Percentile: 4.6% (scored less or equal to compared to others)

EPSS Date: 2025-06-07 (when was this score calculated)

References

https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-37878
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1fe9b92eede32574dbe05b5bdb6ad666b350bed0
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/90dc6c1e3b200812da8d0aa030e1b7fda8226d0e
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cb56cd11feabf99e08bc18960700a53322ffcea7
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0ba3a4ab76fd3367b9cb680cad70182c896c795c

Timeline