CVE-2025-37964 x86/mm: Eliminate window where TLB flushes may be inadvertently skipped
A race condition in Linux kernel TLB flush logic allows stale memory access, potentially leading to information disclosure or privilege escalation.
- 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-2025-37964?
CVE-2025-37964 is a high-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 20 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:
x86/mm: Eliminate window where TLB flushes may be inadvertently skipped
tl;dr: There is a window in the mm switching code where the new CR3 is set and the CPU should be getting TLB flushes for the new mm. But should_flush_tlb() has a bug and suppresses the flush. Fix it by widening the window where should_flush_tlb() sends an IPI.
Long Version:
=== History ===
There were a few things leading up to this.
First, updating mm_cpumask() was observed to be too expensive, so it was made lazier. But being lazy caused too many unnecessary IPIs to CPUs due to the now-lazy mm_cpumask(). So code was added to cull mm_cpumask() periodically[2]. But that culling was a bit too aggressive and skipped sending TLB flushes to CPUs that need them. So here we are again.
=== Problem ===
The too-aggressive code in should_flush_tlb() strikes in this window:
// Turn on IPIs for this CPU/mm combination, but only // if should_flush_tlb() agrees: cpumask_set_cpu(cpu, mm_cpumask(next));
next_tlb_gen = atomic64_read(&next->context.tlb_gen); choose_new_asid(next, next_tlb_gen, &new_asid, &need_flush); load_new_mm_cr3(need_flush); // ^ After 'need_flush' is set to false, IPIs *MUST* // be sent to this CPU and not be ignored.
this_cpu_write(cpu_tlbstate.loaded_mm, next); // ^ Not until this point does should_flush_tlb() // become true!
should_flush_tlb() will suppress TLB flushes between load_new_mm_cr3() and writing to 'loaded_mm', which is a window where they should not be suppressed. Whoops.
=== Solution ===
Thankfully, the fuzzy "just about to write CR3" window is already marked with loaded_mm==LOADED_MM_SWITCHING. Simply checking for that state in should_flush_tlb() is sufficient to ensure that the CPU is targeted with an IPI.
This will cause more TLB flush IPIs. But the window is relatively small and I do not expect this to cause any kind of measurable performance impact.
Update the comment where LOADED_MM_SWITCHING is written since it grew yet another user.
Peter Z also raised a concern that should_flush_tlb() might not observe 'loaded_mm' and 'is_lazy' in the same order that switch_mm_irqs_off() writes them. Add a barrier to ensure that they are observed in the order they are written.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-37964?
It affects 2 products.
Products include Debian Debian Linux, Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2025-37964?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2025-37964 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-37964 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2025-37964, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-37964, GHSA-xxw2-vx44-7cv6, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-37964, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-37964, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-37964.