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Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2025-37957

high Nessus Plugin ID 249935

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Synopsis

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed with a vulnerability that the vendor indicates will not be patched.

Description

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

 - KVM: SVM: Forcibly leave SMM mode on SHUTDOWN interception Previously, commit ed129ec9057f (KVM: x86:
 forcibly leave nested mode on vCPU reset) addressed an issue where a triple fault occurring in nested mode could lead to use-after-free scenarios. However, the commit did not handle the analogous situation for System Management Mode (SMM). This omission results in triggering a WARN when KVM forces a vCPU INIT after SHUTDOWN interception while the vCPU is in SMM. This situation was reprodused using Syzkaller by: 1) Creating a KVM VM and vCPU 2) Sending a KVM_SMI ioctl to explicitly enter SMM 3) Executing invalid instructions causing consecutive exceptions and eventually a triple fault The issue manifests as follows:
 WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 25506 at arch/x86/kvm/x86.c:12112 kvm_vcpu_reset+0x1d2/0x1530 arch/x86/kvm/x86.c:12112 Modules linked in: CPU: 0 PID: 25506 Comm: syz-executor.0 Not tainted 6.1.130-syzkaller-00157-g164fe5dde9b6 #0 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.12.0-1 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:kvm_vcpu_reset+0x1d2/0x1530 arch/x86/kvm/x86.c:12112 Call Trace: <TASK> shutdown_interception+0x66/0xb0 arch/x86/kvm/svm/svm.c:2136 svm_invoke_exit_handler+0x110/0x530 arch/x86/kvm/svm/svm.c:3395 svm_handle_exit+0x424/0x920 arch/x86/kvm/svm/svm.c:3457 vcpu_enter_guest arch/x86/kvm/x86.c:10959 [inline] vcpu_run+0x2c43/0x5a90 arch/x86/kvm/x86.c:11062 kvm_arch_vcpu_ioctl_run+0x50f/0x1cf0 arch/x86/kvm/x86.c:11283 kvm_vcpu_ioctl+0x570/0xf00 arch/x86/kvm/../../../virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:4122 vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline] __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:870 [inline] __se_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:856 [inline] __x64_sys_ioctl+0x19a/0x210 fs/ioctl.c:856 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:51 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x35/0x80 arch/x86/entry/common.c:81 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x6e/0xd8 Architecturally, INIT is blocked when the CPU is in SMM, hence KVM's WARN() in kvm_vcpu_reset() to guard against KVM bugs, e.g. to detect improper emulation of INIT.
 SHUTDOWN on SVM is a weird edge case where KVM needs to do _something_ sane with the VMCB, since it's technically undefined, and INIT is the least awful choice given KVM's ABI. So, double down on stuffing INIT on SHUTDOWN, and force the vCPU out of SMM to avoid any weirdness (and the WARN). Found by Linux Verification Center (linuxtesting.org) with Syzkaller. [sean: massage changelog, make it clear this isn't architectural behavior] (CVE-2025-37957)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

Solution

There is no known solution at this time.

See Also

https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-37957

https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-37957

Plugin Details

Severity: High

ID: 249935

File Name: unpatched_CVE_2025_37957.nasl

Version: 1.1

Type: local

Agent: unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 8/15/2025

Updated: 8/15/2025

Supported Sensors: Frictionless Assessment AWS, Frictionless Assessment Azure, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Nessus Agent, Agentless Assessment, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: High

Score: 7.1

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 6.6

Temporal Score: 4.9

Vector: CVSS2#AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:C/A:C

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2025-37957

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 8.4

Temporal Score: 7.3

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:H

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:O/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:20.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:debian:debian_linux:linux, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-kvm, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gke, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-edge, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-lowlatency, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gke-5.4, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gkeop, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gkeop-5.4, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oracle, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-raspi, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-raspi2, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-bluefield, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-ibm, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-fde, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-intel, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:22.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gke-5.15, cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:12.0, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:24.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe-6.11, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.11, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-5.15, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-6.8, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-5.15, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-6.8, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-5.15, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-6.8, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe-5.15, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe-6.5, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe-6.8, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-intel-iotg, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-intel-iotg-5.15, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.15, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.8, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-nvidia, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-nvidia-6.5, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-6.8, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-6.11, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oracle-5.15, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oracle-6.8, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-riscv, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-riscv-5.15, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-riscv-6.8, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-xilinx-zynqmp, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-fips, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-fips, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-fips, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-fips, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gkeop-5.15, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe-edge, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-ibm-5.15, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-intel-iot-realtime, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-nvidia-6.8, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-nvidia-lowlatency, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-raspi-realtime, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-realtime, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-5.0, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-5.3, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-5.3, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gke-4.15, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-5.6, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oracle-5.0, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oracle-5.3, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe-5.8, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-nvidia-6.2, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-6.5, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-6.5, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-6.5, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oracle-6.5, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-nvidia-tegra, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-nvidia-tegra-igx, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-allwinner-5.19, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-intel-5.13, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-riscv-5.19, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-starfive-5.19, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-starfive-6.5, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-nvidia, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-6.11, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:25.04, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-5.3, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-5.8, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-5.11, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-5.13, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-5.19, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-6.2, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-6.5, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-6.14, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-5.8, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-5.11, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-5.13, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-5.19, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-6.2, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-fde-5.19, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-fde-6.2, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-5.8, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-5.11, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-5.13, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-5.19, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-6.2, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-6.11, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe-5.11, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe-5.13, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe-5.19, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe-6.2, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-ibm-6.8, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-nvidia-tegra-5.15, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-5.10, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-5.14, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-5.17, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-6.0, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-6.1, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-6.14, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oracle-5.8, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oracle-5.11, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oracle-5.13, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-riscv-5.8, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-riscv-5.11, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-riscv-6.5, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-riscv-6.14, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-starfive-6.2, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-5.13, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-6.14, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe-6.14, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oracle-6.14

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/cpu, global_settings/vendor_unpatched, Host/OS/identifier

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Vulnerability Publication Date: 5/20/2025

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2025-37957