CVE-2025-37987 pds_core: Prevent possible adminq overflow/stuck condition
A flaw in the pds_core driver allows an attacker to overflow the admin queue, causing the system to hang and deny service.
- 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-2025-37987?
CVE-2025-37987 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, 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:
pds_core: Prevent possible adminq overflow/stuck condition
The pds_core's adminq is protected by the adminq_lock, which prevents more than 1 command to be posted onto it at any one time. This makes it so the client drivers cannot simultaneously post adminq commands. However, the completions happen in a different context, which means multiple adminq commands can be posted sequentially and all waiting on completion.
On the FW side, the backing adminq request queue is only 16 entries long and the retry mechanism and/or overflow/stuck prevention is lacking. This can cause the adminq to get stuck, so commands are no longer processed and completions are no longer sent by the FW.
As an initial fix, prevent more than 16 outstanding adminq commands so there's no way to cause the adminq from getting stuck. This works because the backing adminq request queue will never have more than 16 pending adminq commands, so it will never overflow. This is done by reducing the adminq depth to 16.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-37987?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2025-37987?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is CVE-2025-37987 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-37987 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2025-37987, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-37987, GHSA-pvfr-278h-v324, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-37987, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-37987.