Linux Kernel up to 6.12.62/6.17.12/6.18.1 bpf update_effective_progs injection

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability marked as critical has been reported in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.62/6.17.12/6.18.1. The impacted element is the function update_effective_progs of the component bpf. Performing a manipulation results in injection. This vulnerability is identified as CVE-2025-68742. There is not any exploit available. It is suggested to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.62/6.17.12/6.18.1. This affects the function update_effective_progs of the component bpf. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a injection vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-74. The product constructs all or part of a command, data structure, or record using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could modify how it is parsed or interpreted when it is sent to a downstream component. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf: Fix invalid prog->stats access when update_effective_progs fails Syzkaller triggers an invalid memory access issue following fault injection in update_effective_progs. The issue can be described as follows: __cgroup_bpf_detach update_effective_progs compute_effective_progs bpf_prog_array_alloc <-- fault inject purge_effective_progs /* change to dummy_bpf_prog */ array->items[index] = &dummy_bpf_prog.prog ---softirq start--- __do_softirq ... __cgroup_bpf_run_filter_skb __bpf_prog_run_save_cb bpf_prog_run stats = this_cpu_ptr(prog->stats) /* invalid memory access */ flags = u64_stats_update_begin_irqsave(&stats->syncp) ---softirq end--- static_branch_dec(&cgroup_bpf_enabled_key[atype]) The reason is that fault injection caused update_effective_progs to fail and then changed the original prog into dummy_bpf_prog.prog in purge_effective_progs. Then a softirq came, and accessing the members of dummy_bpf_prog.prog in the softirq triggers invalid mem access. To fix it, skip updating stats when stats is NULL.

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2025-68742 since 12/24/2025. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 01/12/2026). The attack technique deployed by this issue is T1055 according to MITRE ATT&CK.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 279824 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2025-68742), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.12.63, 6.17.13, 6.18.2 or 6.19-rc1 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 539137e3038ce6f953efd72110110f03c14c7d97/56905bb70c8b88421709bb4e32fcba617aa37d41/2579c356ccd35d06238b176e4b460978186d804b/7dc211c1159d991db609bdf4b0fb9033c04adcbc 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 (279824), EUVD (EUVD-2025-205220) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2929). Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Affected

• 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
• 6.12.59
• 6.12.60
• 6.12.61
• 6.12.62
• 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
• 6.17.9
• 6.17.10
• 6.17.11
• 6.17.12
• 6.18.0
• 6.18.1

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Entryinfo

Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

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