CVE-2025-37821 sched/eevdf: Fix se->slice being set to U64_MAX and resulting crash

What is CVE-2025-37821?

CVE-2025-37821 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 8 May 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

sched/eevdf: Fix se->slice being set to U64_MAX and resulting crash

There is a code path in dequeue_entities() that can set the slice of a sched_entity to U64_MAX, which sometimes results in a crash.

The offending case is when dequeue_entities() is called to dequeue a delayed group entity, and then the entity's parent's dequeue is delayed. In that case:

1. In the if (entity_is_task(se)) else block at the beginning of dequeue_entities(), slice is set to cfs_rq_min_slice(group_cfs_rq(se)). If the entity was delayed, then it has no queued tasks, so cfs_rq_min_slice() returns U64_MAX. 2. The first for_each_sched_entity() loop dequeues the entity. 3. If the entity was its parent's only child, then the next iteration tries to dequeue the parent. 4. If the parent's dequeue needs to be delayed, then it breaks from the first for_each_sched_entity() loop _without updating slice_. 5. The second for_each_sched_entity() loop sets the parent's ->slice to the saved slice, which is still U64_MAX.

This throws off subsequent calculations with potentially catastrophic results. A manifestation we saw in production was:

6. In update_entity_lag(), se->slice is used to calculate limit, which ends up as a huge negative number. 7. limit is used in se->vlag = clamp(vlag, -limit, limit). Because limit is negative, vlag > limit, so se->vlag is set to the same huge negative number. 8. In place_entity(), se->vlag is scaled, which overflows and results in another huge (positive or negative) number. 9. The adjusted lag is subtracted from se->vruntime, which increases or decreases se->vruntime by a huge number. 10. pick_eevdf() calls entity_eligible()/vruntime_eligible(), which incorrectly returns false because the vruntime is so far from the other vruntimes on the queue, causing the (vruntime - cfs_rq->min_vruntime) * load calulation to overflow. 11. Nothing appears to be eligible, so pick_eevdf() returns NULL. 12. pick_next_entity() tries to dereference the return value of pick_eevdf() and crashes.

Dumping the cfs_rq states from the core dumps with drgn showed tell-tale huge vruntime ranges and bogus vlag values, and I also traced se->slice being set to U64_MAX on live systems (which was usually "benign" since the rest of the runqueue needed to be in a particular state to crash).

Fix it in dequeue_entities() by always setting slice from the first non-empty cfs_rq.

Weakness: CWE-476

Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-37821?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2025-37821?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2025-37821 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-37821 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

• CVE-2026-53266 Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2013-6282 Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2022-0185 Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2013-2094 Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2026-53362 Linux Kernel Unspecified Exploited High 7.8

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as BELL-CVE-2025-37821, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-37821, GHSA-jq2v-j4fw-m4mg, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-37821.