Linux Kernel up to 6.17.12/6.18.1 coresight use after free

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability identified as critical has been detected in Linux Kernel up to 6.17.12/6.18.1. The impacted element is an unknown function of the component coresight. Performing a manipulation results in use after free. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2025-68376. No exploit is available. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.17.12/6.18.1. It has been classified as critical. This affects some unknown functionality of the component coresight. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a use after free vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-416. Referencing memory after it has been freed can cause a program to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code. 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: coresight: ETR: Fix ETR buffer use-after-free issue When ETR is enabled as CS_MODE_SYSFS, if the buffer size is changed and enabled again, currently sysfs_buf will point to the newly allocated memory(buf_new) and free the old memory(buf_old). But the etr_buf that is being used by the ETR remains pointed to buf_old, not updated to buf_new. In this case, it will result in a memory use-after-free issue. Fix this by checking ETR's mode before updating and releasing buf_old, if the mode is CS_MODE_SYSFS, then skip updating and releasing it.

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2025-68376 since 12/16/2025. The exploitability is told to be easy. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not publicly available. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 05/24/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 279818 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2025-68376), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.17.13, 6.18.2 or 6.19-rc1 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 70acbc9c77686b7a521af6d7a543dcd9c324cf07/cda077a19f5c8d6ec61e5b97deca203d95e3a422/35501ac3c7d40a7bb9568c2f89d6b56beaf9bed3 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 (279818), EUVD (EUVD-2025-205078) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2920). 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

• 6.17.0
• 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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