Linux Kernel up to 6.14.3/6.15-rc2 iov_iter reference count

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.14.3/6.15-rc2. This affects an unknown part of the component iov_iter. Performing a manipulation results in reference count. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2025-37779. No exploit is available. It is advisable to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.14.3/6.15-rc2. It has been classified as problematic. This affects an unknown functionality of the component iov_iter. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a reference count vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-911. The product uses a reference count to manage a resource, but it does not update or incorrectly updates the reference count. This is going to have an impact on availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: lib/iov_iter: fix to increase non slab folio refcount When testing EROFS file-backed mount over v9fs on qemu, I encountered a folio UAF issue. The page sanity check reports the following call trace. The root cause is that pages in bvec are coalesced across a folio bounary. The refcount of all non-slab folios should be increased to ensure p9_releas_pages can put them correctly. BUG: Bad page state in process md5sum pfn:18300 page: refcount:0 mapcount:0 mapping:00000000d5ad8e4e index:0x60 pfn:0x18300 head: order:0 mapcount:0 entire_mapcount:0 nr_pages_mapped:0 pincount:0 aops:z_erofs_aops ino:30b0f dentry name(?):"GoogleExtServicesCn.apk" flags: 0x100000000000041(locked|head|node=0|zone=1) raw: 0100000000000041 dead000000000100 dead000000000122 ffff888014b13bd0 raw: 0000000000000060 0000000000000020 00000000ffffffff 0000000000000000 head: 0100000000000041 dead000000000100 dead000000000122 ffff888014b13bd0 head: 0000000000000060 0000000000000020 00000000ffffffff 0000000000000000 head: 0100000000000000 0000000000000000 ffffffffffffffff 0000000000000000 head: 0000000000000010 0000000000000000 00000000ffffffff 0000000000000000 page dumped because: PAGE_FLAGS_CHECK_AT_FREE flag(s) set Call Trace: dump_stack_lvl+0x53/0x70 bad_page+0xd4/0x220 __free_pages_ok+0x76d/0xf30 __folio_put+0x230/0x320 p9_release_pages+0x179/0x1f0 p9_virtio_zc_request+0xa2a/0x1230 p9_client_zc_rpc.constprop.0+0x247/0x700 p9_client_read_once+0x34d/0x810 p9_client_read+0xf3/0x150 v9fs_issue_read+0x111/0x360 netfs_unbuffered_read_iter_locked+0x927/0x1390 netfs_unbuffered_read_iter+0xa2/0xe0 vfs_iocb_iter_read+0x2c7/0x460 erofs_fileio_rq_submit+0x46b/0x5b0 z_erofs_runqueue+0x1203/0x21e0 z_erofs_readahead+0x579/0x8b0 read_pages+0x19f/0xa70 page_cache_ra_order+0x4ad/0xb80 filemap_readahead.isra.0+0xe7/0x150 filemap_get_pages+0x7aa/0x1890 filemap_read+0x320/0xc80 vfs_read+0x6c6/0xa30 ksys_read+0xf9/0x1c0 do_syscall_64+0x9e/0x1a0 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x71/0x79

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2025-37779 since 04/16/2025. The exploitability is told to be difficult. Neither technical details nor an exploit are publicly available.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 240657 (Ubuntu 25.04 : Linux kernel vulnerabilities (USN-7594-1)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.14.4 or 6.15-rc3 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch d833f21162c4d536d729628f8cf1ee8d4110f2b7/770c8d55c42868239c748a3ebc57c9e37755f842 is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (240657) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-0922). Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

Affected

• Google Container-Optimized OS
• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• SUSE openSUSE
• RESF Rocky Linux
• Dell Avamar
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• IBM DataPower Gateway
• Dell NetWorker
• Dell Secure Connect Gateway

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.14.0
• 6.14.1
• 6.14.2
• 6.14.3
• 6.15-rc1
• 6.15-rc2

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Entryinfo

Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

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