NULL pointer dereference in Linux

CVE-2025-37818

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: LoongArch: Return NULL from huge_pte_offset() for invalid PMD LoongArch's huge_pte_offset() currently returns a pointer to a PMD slot even if the underlying entry points to invalid_pte_table (indicating no mapping). Callers like smaps_hugetlb_range() fetch this invalid entry value (the address of invalid_pte_table) via this pointer. The generic is_swap_pte() check then incorrectly identifies this address as a swap entry on LoongArch, because it satisfies the "!pte_present() && !pte_none()" conditions. This misinterpretation, combined with a coincidental match by is_migration_entry() on the address bits, leads to kernel crashes in pfn_swap_entry_to_page(). Fix this at the architecture level by modifying huge_pte_offset() to check the PMD entry's content using pmd_none() before returning. If the entry is invalid (i.e., it points to invalid_pte_table), return NULL instead of the pointer to the slot.

EPSS: 0.002 (5.1th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.