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TI-2025-25283 Aliases CVE-2025-37936GHSA-7qvj-8m4h-6v7j

perf/x86/intel: KVM: Mask PEBS_ENABLE loaded for guest with vCPU's value.

Priority LOW 37Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Local
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low
Impact type
—
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
Low · High · High
Fix status
Partial Red Hat: 3 without a fix

Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: perf/x86/intel: KVM: Mask PEBS_ENABLE loaded for guest with vCPU's value. When generating the MSR_IA32_PEBS_ENABLE value that will be loaded on VM-Entry to a KVM guest, mask the value with the vCPU's desired PEBS_ENABLE value. Consulting only the host kernel's host vs. guest masks results in running the guest with PEBS enabled even when the guest doesn't want to use PEBS. Because KVM uses perf events to proxy the guest virtual PMU, simply looking at exclude_host can't differentiate between events created by host userspace, and events created by KVM on behalf of the guest. Running the guest with PEBS unexpectedly enabled typically manifests as crashes due to a near-infinite stream of #PFs. E.g. if the guest hasn't written MSR_IA32_DS_AREA, the CPU will hit page faults on address '0' when trying to record PEBS events. The issue is most easily reproduced by running `perf kvm top` from before commit 7b100989b4f6 ("perf evlist: Remove __evlist__add_default") (after which, `perf kvm top` effectively stopped using PEBS). The userspace side of perf creates a guest-only PEBS event, which intel_guest_get_msrs() misconstrues a guest-*owned* PEBS event. Arguably, this is a userspace bug, as enabling PEBS on guest-only events simply cannot work, and userspace can kill VMs in many other ways (there is no danger to the host). However, even if this is considered to be bad userspace behavior, there's zero downside to perf/KVM restricting PEBS to guest-owned events. Note, commit 854250329c02 ("KVM: x86/pmu: Disable guest PEBS temporarily in two rare situations") fixed the case where host userspace is profiling KVM *and* userspace, but missed the case where userspace is profiling only KVM.

Why it matters now

Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00219 12th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Partial Linux (Linux): 6.1.138, 6.6.90, 6.12.28 +2Red Hat: 3 without a fix

SSVC decision points

CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3

Exploitation
None
Automatable
No
Technical impact
Partial

The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.

Affected products

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
LinuxLinux6.0 and later6.1.138, 6.6.90, 6.12.28, 6.14.6, 6.15Patch availableCNA
  • Linux VendorLinux Affected 6.0 and later Fixed in 6.1.138, 6.6.90, 6.12.28, 6.14.6, 6.15 Patch available CNA

CPE configurations NVD · 6

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*6.0 to before 6.1.138; 6.2 to before 6.6.90; 6.7 to before 6.12.28; 6.13 to before 6.14.6VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.15:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*6.15 rc1VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.15:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*6.15 rc2VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.15:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*6.15 rc3VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.15:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*6.15 rc4VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*11.0VulnerableDebian
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.0 to before 6.1.138; 6.2 to before 6.6.90; 6.7 to before 6.12.28; 6.13 to before 6.14.6 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.15:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.15 rc1 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.15:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.15 rc2 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.15:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.15 rc3 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.15:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.15 rc4 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 11.0 Vulnerable ·Debian

Remediation

  • Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 6.1.138, 6.6.90, 6.12.28, 6.14.6, 6.15

Vendor assessments

Red Hat

Red Hat rating: Low. Red Hat's page for this CVE →

ProductStatusPlan or fix
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7AffectedNo fix planned: Out of support scope
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Not affected: 2 products
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2025-37936
  2. 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-7qvj-8m4h-6v7j
  3. 2026-10-16 CISA SSVC decision points changed

References

  • TI-2025-26358 tls: fix handling of zero-length records on the rx_list KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2026-38352 netfilter: bridge: make ebt_snat ARP rewrite writable KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
  • TI-2013-05264 The (1) get_user and (2) put_user API functions in the Linux kernel before 3.5.5 on the… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
  • TI-2022-00125 Integer overflow in kernel KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
  • TI-2013-01864 The perf_swevent_init function in kernel/events/core.c in the Linux kernel before 3.8.9… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
  • TI-2021-05514 Heap Out-Of-Bounds Write in Netfilter IP6T_SO_SET_REPLACE KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.3
See all 15278 →

Sources