CVE-2025-37953: sch_htb: make htb_deactivate() idempotent

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2025-37953 is a medium (CVSS 5.5) NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability in debian debian_linux. EPSS estimates a 0.19% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 9.1% of scored vulnerabilities.

Timeline

1. 20-05-2025
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 11-05-2026
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: sch_htb: make htb_deactivate() idempotent Alan reported a NULL pointer dereference in htb_next_rb_node() after we made htb_qlen_notify() idempotent. It turns out in the following case it introduced some regression: htb_dequeue_tree(): |-> fq_codel_dequeue() |-> qdisc_tree_reduce_backlog() |-> htb_qlen_notify() |-> htb_deactivate() |-> htb_next_rb_node() |-> htb_deactivate() For htb_next_rb_node(), after calling the 1st htb_deactivate(), the clprio[prio]->ptr could be already set to NULL, which means htb_next_rb_node() is vulnerable here. For htb_deactivate(), although we checked qlen before calling it, in case of qlen==0 after qdisc_tree_reduce_backlog(), we may call it again which triggers the warning inside. To fix the issues here, we need to: 1) Make htb_deactivate() idempotent, that is, simply return if we already call it before. 2) Make htb_next_rb_node() safe against ptr==NULL. Many thanks to Alan for testing and for the reproducer.

• CWE-476NULL Pointer DereferenceThe product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is NULL.