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Unscored CVE-2025-37878 EUVD-2025-14112GHSA-h3xh-892p-rrrq

perf/core: Fix WARN_ON(!ctx) in __free_event() for partial init

Published May 9, 2025 · Updated Nov 5, 2026 · Assigned by Linux

Vendor: Linux Product: Linux Package: kernel Package: linux Package: linux-allwinner-5.19 Package: linux-aws-5.0 Package: linux-aws-5.11 Package: linux-aws-5.13 Package: linux-aws-5.19 Package: linux-aws-5.3 Package: linux-aws-5.8 Package: linux-aws-6.2 Package: linux-aws-6.5 Package: linux-azure Package: linux-azure-5.11 Package: linux-azure-5.13 Package: linux-azure-5.19 Package: linux-azure-5.3 Package: linux-azure-5.8 Package: linux-azure-6.11 Package: linux-azure-6.2 Package: linux-azure-6.5 Package: linux-azure-edge Package: linux-azure-fde Package: linux-azure-fde-5.19 Package: linux-azure-fde-6.2 Package: linux-gcp Package: linux-gcp-5.11 Package: linux-gcp-5.13 Package: linux-gcp-5.19 Package: linux-gcp-5.3 Package: linux-gcp-5.8 Package: linux-gcp-6.11 Package: linux-gcp-6.14 Package: linux-gcp-6.2 Package: linux-gcp-6.5 Package: linux-gke Package: linux-gke-4.15 Package: linux-gke-5.15 Package: linux-gke-5.4 Package: linux-gkeop Package: linux-gkeop-5.15 Package: linux-gkeop-5.4 Package: linux-hwe Package: linux-hwe-5.11 Package: linux-hwe-5.13 Package: linux-hwe-5.19 Package: linux-hwe-5.8 Package: linux-hwe-6.11 Package: linux-hwe-6.2 Package: linux-hwe-6.5 Package: linux-hwe-edge Package: linux-intel Package: linux-intel-5.13 Package: linux-intel-iot-realtime Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.11 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5 Package: linux-nvidia-6.11 Package: linux-nvidia-6.2 Package: linux-nvidia-6.5 Package: linux-oem Package: linux-oem-5.10 Package: linux-oem-5.13 Package: linux-oem-5.14 Package: linux-oem-5.17 Package: linux-oem-5.6 Package: linux-oem-6.0 Package: linux-oem-6.1 Package: linux-oem-6.11 Package: linux-oem-6.5 Package: linux-oem-6.8 Package: linux-oracle-5.0 Package: linux-oracle-5.11 Package: linux-oracle-5.13 Package: linux-oracle-5.3 Package: linux-oracle-5.8 Package: linux-oracle-6.5 Package: linux-raspi-realtime Package: linux-raspi2 Package: linux-realtime Package: linux-realtime-6.14 Package: linux-riscv Package: linux-riscv-5.11 Package: linux-riscv-5.19 Package: linux-riscv-5.8 Package: linux-riscv-6.5 Package: linux-starfive-5.19 Package: linux-starfive-6.2 Package: linux-starfive-6.5 Package: linux-vmware Platform: Linux Ecosystem: Azure Linux Ecosystem: Debian Ecosystem: Ubuntu

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. ]

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
Linux Linux 6.13.12 – < 6.14, 6.12.24 – < 6.12.26, 6.14.3 – < 6.14.5 6.14

Fixed in Linux distributions

Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian 14 linux 6.12.27-1 —
Debian 13 linux 6.12.27-1 —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 25.10 linux-azure-fde No fix yet —
Ubuntu 25.04 linux 6.14.0-22.22 USN-7594-1
Ubuntu 25.04 linux-aws +3 6.14.0-1007.7 USN-7594-3, USN-7594-2, USN-7594-1
Ubuntu 25.04 linux-gcp 6.14.0-1008.8 USN-7594-1
Ubuntu 25.04 linux-realtime 6.14.0-1004.4 USN-7594-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux 6.8.0-100.100 USN-8028-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-aws +1 6.8.0-1046.49 USN-8028-5
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-azure 6.8.0-1046.52 USN-8074-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-gcp 6.8.0-1047.50 USN-8031-3
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-gcp-6.14 6.14.0-1011.11~24.04.1 —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-gke 6.8.0-1043.48 USN-8031-3
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-gkeop 6.8.0-1030.33 USN-8028-5
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-ibm 6.8.0-1044.44 USN-8028-8
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-intel +10 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-lowlatency 6.8.0-100.100.1 USN-8052-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-nvidia-lowlatency 6.8.0-1046.49.1 USN-8028-7
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-oracle 6.8.0-1043.44 USN-8028-5
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-raspi 6.8.0-1047.51 USN-8028-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-xilinx 6.8.0-1023.24 USN-8052-2
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-aws-6.8 +1 6.8.0-1046.49~22.04.1 USN-8028-5
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-azure-6.8 6.8.0-1051.57~22.04.1 USN-8126-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-gcp-6.8 6.8.0-1047.50~22.04.2 USN-8031-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-hwe-6.8 6.8.0-100.100~22.04.1 USN-8028-6
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-ibm-6.8 6.8.0-1044.44~22.04.1 USN-8028-8
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.8 6.8.0-100.100.1~22.04.1 USN-8028-6
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-oracle-6.8 6.8.0-1043.44~22.04.1 USN-8028-5
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-riscv +32 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-gke +28 No fix yet —
Show 5 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS linux-gcp +14 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS linux-hwe-edge No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro Realtime 24.04 LTS linux-raspi-realtime 6.8.0-2037.38 USN-8028-3
Ubuntu Pro Realtime 24.04 LTS linux-realtime 6.8.1-1041.42 USN-8028-3
Ubuntu Pro Realtime 24.04 LTS linux-realtime-6.14 6.14.0-1010.10~24.04.1 —
Ubuntu Pro Realtime 22.04 LTS linux-realtime-6.8 6.8.1-1041.42~22.04.1 USN-8028-2
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 24.04 LTS linux-aws-fips 6.8.0-1046.49+fips1 USN-8028-4
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 24.04 LTS linux-azure-fips 6.8.0-1046.52+fips1 USN-8074-2
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 24.04 LTS linux-fips 6.8.0-100.100+fips1 USN-8028-4
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 24.04 LTS linux-gcp-fips 6.8.0-1047.50+fips1 USN-8031-2

Amazon Linux

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Amazon Linux 2023 bpftool +14 6.12.29-33.102.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2025-994
Amazon Linux 2023 kernel-livepatch-6.12.29-33.102 1.0-0.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2025-994

Azure Linux

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Azure Linux 2 (CBL-Mariner) kernel No fix yet —

Oracle Linux

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Oracle Linux 9 kernel-uek +34 6.12.0-101.33.4.3.el10uek ELSA-2025-20530, ELSA-2025-20480

Advisories 23

References