CVE-2025-37836 PCI: Fix reference leak in pci_register_host_bridge()
A reference leak in the Linux kernel PCI subsystem can lead to memory exhaustion and denial of service if device registration fails.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2025-37836?
CVE-2025-37836 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 9 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:
PCI: Fix reference leak in pci_register_host_bridge()
If device_register() fails, call put_device() to give up the reference to avoid a memory leak, per the comment at device_register().
Found by code review.
[bhelgaas: squash Dan Carpenter's double free fix from https://lore.kernel.org/r/[email protected]]
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-37836?
It affects 2 products.
Products include Debian Debian Linux, Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2025-37836?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.
Is CVE-2025-37836 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-37836 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2025-37836, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-37836, GHSA-wwcc-hw3c-mqv5, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-37836, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-37836, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-37836 and 1 more.