Linux Kernel up to 6.12.58/6.17.8 alloc_slab_obj_exts allocation of resources

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.58/6.17.8 and classified as critical. This affects the function alloc_slab_obj_exts. This manipulation causes allocation of resources. This vulnerability is registered as CVE-2025-68199. No exploit is available. The affected component should be upgraded.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.58/6.17.8. Affected by this vulnerability is the function alloc_slab_obj_exts. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a allocation of resources vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-770. The product allocates a reusable resource or group of resources on behalf of an actor without imposing any restrictions on the size or number of resources that can be allocated, in violation of the intended security policy for that actor. The impact remains unknown. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: codetag: debug: handle existing CODETAG_EMPTY in mark_objexts_empty for slabobj_ext When alloc_slab_obj_exts() fails and then later succeeds in allocating a slab extension vector, it calls handle_failed_objexts_alloc() to mark all objects in the vector as empty. As a result all objects in this slab (slabA) will have their extensions set to CODETAG_EMPTY. Later on if this slabA is used to allocate a slabobj_ext vector for another slab (slabB), we end up with the slabB->obj_exts pointing to a slabobj_ext vector that itself has a non-NULL slabobj_ext equal to CODETAG_EMPTY. When slabB gets freed, free_slab_obj_exts() is called to free slabB->obj_exts vector. free_slab_obj_exts() calls mark_objexts_empty(slabB->obj_exts) which will generate a warning because it expects slabobj_ext vectors to have a NULL obj_ext, not CODETAG_EMPTY. Modify mark_objexts_empty() to skip the warning and setting the obj_ext value if it's already set to CODETAG_EMPTY. To quickly detect this WARN, I modified the code from WARN_ON(slab_exts[offs].ref.ct) to BUG_ON(slab_exts[offs].ref.ct == 1); We then obtained this message: [21630.898561] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [21630.898596] kernel BUG at mm/slub.c:2050! [21630.898611] Internal error: Oops - BUG: 00000000f2000800 [#1] SMP [21630.900372] Modules linked in: squashfs isofs vfio_iommu_type1 vhost_vsock vfio vhost_net vmw_vsock_virtio_transport_common vhost tap vhost_iotlb iommufd vsock binfmt_misc nfsv3 nfs_acl nfs lockd grace netfs tls rds dns_resolver tun brd overlay ntfs3 exfat btrfs blake2b_generic xor xor_neon raid6_pq loop sctp ip6_udp_tunnel udp_tunnel nft_fib_inet nft_fib_ipv4 nft_fib_ipv6 nft_fib nft_reject_inet nf_reject_ipv4 nf_reject_ipv6 nft_reject nft_ct nft_chain_nat nf_nat nf_conntrack nf_defrag_ipv6 nf_defrag_ipv4 nf_tables rfkill ip_set sunrpc vfat fat joydev sg sch_fq_codel nfnetlink virtio_gpu sr_mod cdrom drm_client_lib virtio_dma_buf drm_shmem_helper drm_kms_helper drm ghash_ce backlight virtio_net virtio_blk virtio_scsi net_failover virtio_console failover virtio_mmio dm_mirror dm_region_hash dm_log dm_multipath dm_mod fuse i2c_dev virtio_pci virtio_pci_legacy_dev virtio_pci_modern_dev virtio virtio_ring autofs4 aes_neon_bs aes_ce_blk [last unloaded: hwpoison_inject] [21630.909177] CPU: 3 UID: 0 PID: 3787 Comm: kylin-process-m Kdump: loaded Tainted: G        W           6.18.0-rc1+ #74 PREEMPT(voluntary) [21630.910495] Tainted: [W]=WARN [21630.910867] Hardware name: QEMU KVM Virtual Machine, BIOS unknown 2/2/2022 [21630.911625] pstate: 80400005 (Nzcv daif +PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) [21630.912392] pc : __free_slab+0x228/0x250 [21630.912868] lr : __free_slab+0x18c/0x250[21630.913334] sp : ffff8000a02f73e0 [21630.913830] x29: ffff8000a02f73e0 x28: fffffdffc43fc800 x27: ffff0000c0011c40 [21630.914677] x26: ffff0000c000cac0 x25: ffff00010fe5e5f0 x24: ffff000102199b40 [21630.915469] x23: 0000000000000003 x22: 0000000000000003 x21: ffff0000c0011c40 [21630.916259] x20: fffffdffc4086600 x19: fffffdffc43fc800 x18: 0000000000000000 [21630.917048] x17: 0000000000000000 x16: 0000000000000000 x15: 0000000000000000 [21630.917837] x14: 0000000000000000 x13: 0000000000000000 x12: ffff70001405ee66 [21630.918640] x11: 1ffff0001405ee65 x10: ffff70001405ee65 x9 : ffff800080a295dc [21630.919442] x8 : ffff8000a02f7330 x7 : 0000000000000000 x6 : 0000000000003000 [21630.920232] x5 : 0000000024924925 x4 : 0000000000000001 x3 : 0000000000000007 [21630.921021] x2 : 0000000000001b40 x1 : 000000000000001f x0 : 0000000000000001 [21630.921810] Call trace: [21630.922130]  __free_slab+0x228/0x250 (P) [21630.922669]  free_slab+0x38/0x118 [21630.923079]  free_to_partial_list+0x1d4/0x340 [21630.923591]  __slab_free+0x24c/0x348 [21630.924024]  ___cache_free+0xf0/0x110 [21630.924468]  qlist_free_all+0x78/0x130 [21630.924922]  kasan_quarantine_reduce+0x11 ---truncated---

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2025-68199 since 12/16/2025. The exploitation appears to be difficult. Technical details are known, but no exploit is available.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 298897 (Ubuntu 25.10 : Linux kernel vulnerabilities (USN-8029-1)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.12.59 or 6.17.9 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch fc6acd4cddf76e7eb7db63649fe36980ce208f56/3f56c407feb967e6faeb4e2e04eaa8edc206a686/1abbdf3d57aa964e572940d67c9ec5dc87710738 is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (298897) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2868). Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

Affected

• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• SUSE openSUSE
• RESF Rocky Linux
• Open Source Linux Kernel

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.12.0
• 6.12.1
• 6.12.2
• 6.12.3
• 6.12.4
• 6.12.5
• 6.12.6
• 6.12.7
• 6.12.8
• 6.12.9
• 6.12.10
• 6.12.11
• 6.12.12
• 6.12.13
• 6.12.14
• 6.12.15
• 6.12.16
• 6.12.17
• 6.12.18
• 6.12.19
• 6.12.20
• 6.12.21
• 6.12.22
• 6.12.23
• 6.12.24
• 6.12.25
• 6.12.26
• 6.12.27
• 6.12.28
• 6.12.29
• 6.12.30
• 6.12.31
• 6.12.32
• 6.12.33
• 6.12.34
• 6.12.35
• 6.12.36
• 6.12.37
• 6.12.38
• 6.12.39
• 6.12.40
• 6.12.41
• 6.12.42
• 6.12.43
• 6.12.44
• 6.12.45
• 6.12.46
• 6.12.47
• 6.12.48
• 6.12.49
• 6.12.50
• 6.12.51
• 6.12.52
• 6.12.53
• 6.12.54
• 6.12.55
• 6.12.56
• 6.12.57
• 6.12.58
• 6.17.0
• 6.17.1
• 6.17.2
• 6.17.3
• 6.17.4
• 6.17.5
• 6.17.6
• 6.17.7
• 6.17.8

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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CVSSv4info

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Exploitinginfo

Threat Intelligenceinfo

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Sourcesinfo

Entryinfo

Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

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