Advisory Published
Updated

CVE-2025-37843: PCI: pciehp: Avoid unnecessary device replacement check

First published: Fri May 09 2025(Updated: )

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: PCI: pciehp: Avoid unnecessary device replacement check Hot-removal of nested PCI hotplug ports suffers from a long-standing race condition which can lead to a deadlock: A parent hotplug port acquires pci_lock_rescan_remove(), then waits for pciehp to unbind from a child hotplug port. Meanwhile that child hotplug port tries to acquire pci_lock_rescan_remove() as well in order to remove its own children. The deadlock only occurs if the parent acquires pci_lock_rescan_remove() first, not if the child happens to acquire it first. Several workarounds to avoid the issue have been proposed and discarded over the years, e.g.: https://lore.kernel.org/r/4c882e25194ba8282b78fe963fec8faae7cf23eb.1529173804.git.lukas@wunner.de/ A proper fix is being worked on, but needs more time as it is nontrivial and necessarily intrusive. Recent commit 9d573d19547b ("PCI: pciehp: Detect device replacement during system sleep") provokes more frequent occurrence of the deadlock when removing more than one Thunderbolt device during system sleep. The commit sought to detect device replacement, but also triggered on device removal. Differentiating reliably between replacement and removal is impossible because pci_get_dsn() returns 0 both if the device was removed, as well as if it was replaced with one lacking a Device Serial Number. Avoid the more frequent occurrence of the deadlock by checking whether the hotplug port itself was hot-removed. If so, there's no sense in checking whether its child device was replaced. This works because the ->resume_noirq() callback is invoked in top-down order for the entire hierarchy: A parent hotplug port detecting device replacement (or removal) marks all children as removed using pci_dev_set_disconnected() and a child hotplug port can then reliably detect being removed.

Credit: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Affected SoftwareAffected VersionHow to fix
Linux Kernel

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Frequently Asked Questions

  • What is the severity of CVE-2025-37843?

    CVE-2025-37843 has been classified with a severity that indicates it poses a potential risk due to a race condition leading to deadlocks in nested PCI hotplug ports.

  • How do I fix CVE-2025-37843?

    To fix CVE-2025-37843, update your Linux kernel to the latest version that addresses this vulnerability.

  • What impact does CVE-2025-37843 have on Linux systems?

    CVE-2025-37843 can lead to system instability due to possible deadlocks during PCI hot removal operations.

  • Is CVE-2025-37843 exploitable remotely?

    CVE-2025-37843 is not commonly considered remotely exploitable as it affects local operations involving PCI devices.

  • When was CVE-2025-37843 reported?

    CVE-2025-37843 was reported as a vulnerability with a long-standing race condition in the Linux kernel's handling of PCI hotplug ports.

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