Linux Kernel up to 6.12.62/6.17.12/6.18.1 NVMe Driver quiesce_tagset initialization

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.62/6.17.12/6.18.1. Affected by this issue is the function quiesce_tagset of the component NVMe Driver. The manipulation results in initialization. This vulnerability is identified as CVE-2025-68756. There is not any exploit available. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.62/6.17.12/6.18.1. Affected is the function quiesce_tagset of the component NVMe Driver. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a initialization vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-665. The product does not initialize or incorrectly initializes a resource, which might leave the resource in an unexpected state when it is accessed or used. The impact remains unknown. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: block: Use RCU in blk_mq_[un]quiesce_tagset() instead of set->tag_list_lock blk_mq_{add,del}_queue_tag_set() functions add and remove queues from tagset, the functions make sure that tagset and queues are marked as shared when two or more queues are attached to the same tagset. Initially a tagset starts as unshared and when the number of added queues reaches two, blk_mq_add_queue_tag_set() marks it as shared along with all the queues attached to it. When the number of attached queues drops to 1 blk_mq_del_queue_tag_set() need to mark both the tagset and the remaining queues as unshared. Both functions need to freeze current queues in tagset before setting on unsetting BLK_MQ_F_TAG_QUEUE_SHARED flag. While doing so, both functions hold set->tag_list_lock mutex, which makes sense as we do not want queues to be added or deleted in the process. This used to work fine until commit 98d81f0df70c ("nvme: use blk_mq_[un]quiesce_tagset") made the nvme driver quiesce tagset instead of quiscing individual queues. blk_mq_quiesce_tagset() does the job and quiesce the queues in set->tag_list while holding set->tag_list_lock also. This results in deadlock between two threads with these stacktraces: __schedule+0x47c/0xbb0 ? timerqueue_add+0x66/0xb0 schedule+0x1c/0xa0 schedule_preempt_disabled+0xa/0x10 __mutex_lock.constprop.0+0x271/0x600 blk_mq_quiesce_tagset+0x25/0xc0 nvme_dev_disable+0x9c/0x250 nvme_timeout+0x1fc/0x520 blk_mq_handle_expired+0x5c/0x90 bt_iter+0x7e/0x90 blk_mq_queue_tag_busy_iter+0x27e/0x550 ? __blk_mq_complete_request_remote+0x10/0x10 ? __blk_mq_complete_request_remote+0x10/0x10 ? __call_rcu_common.constprop.0+0x1c0/0x210 blk_mq_timeout_work+0x12d/0x170 process_one_work+0x12e/0x2d0 worker_thread+0x288/0x3a0 ? rescuer_thread+0x480/0x480 kthread+0xb8/0xe0 ? kthread_park+0x80/0x80 ret_from_fork+0x2d/0x50 ? kthread_park+0x80/0x80 ret_from_fork_asm+0x11/0x20 __schedule+0x47c/0xbb0 ? xas_find+0x161/0x1a0 schedule+0x1c/0xa0 blk_mq_freeze_queue_wait+0x3d/0x70 ? destroy_sched_domains_rcu+0x30/0x30 blk_mq_update_tag_set_shared+0x44/0x80 blk_mq_exit_queue+0x141/0x150 del_gendisk+0x25a/0x2d0 nvme_ns_remove+0xc9/0x170 nvme_remove_namespaces+0xc7/0x100 nvme_remove+0x62/0x150 pci_device_remove+0x23/0x60 device_release_driver_internal+0x159/0x200 unbind_store+0x99/0xa0 kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x112/0x1e0 vfs_write+0x2b1/0x3d0 ksys_write+0x4e/0xb0 do_syscall_64+0x5b/0x160 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x4b/0x53 The top stacktrace is showing nvme_timeout() called to handle nvme command timeout. timeout handler is trying to disable the controller and as a first step, it needs to blk_mq_quiesce_tagset() to tell blk-mq not to call queue callback handlers. The thread is stuck waiting for set->tag_list_lock as it tries to walk the queues in set->tag_list. The lock is held by the second thread in the bottom stack which is waiting for one of queues to be frozen. The queue usage counter will drop to zero after nvme_timeout() finishes, and this will not happen because the thread will wait for this mutex forever. Given that [un]quiescing queue is an operation that does not need to sleep, update blk_mq_[un]quiesce_tagset() to use RCU instead of taking set->tag_list_lock, update blk_mq_{add,del}_queue_tag_set() to use RCU safe list operations. Also, delete INIT_LIST_HEAD(&q->tag_set_list) in blk_mq_del_queue_tag_set() because we can not re-initialize it while the list is being traversed under RCU. The deleted queue will not be added/deleted to/from a tagset and it will be freed in blk_free_queue() after the end of RCU grace period.

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2025-68756 since 12/24/2025. The exploitability is told to be difficult. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $0-$5k (estimation calculated on 02/13/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 281754 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2025-68756), 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 3baeec23a82e7ee9691f434c6ab0ab1387326108/6e8d363786765a81e35083e0909e076796468edf/ef0cd7b694928573f6569e61c14f5f059253162e/59e25ef2b413c72da6686d431e7759302cfccafa 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 (281754), EUVD (EUVD-2026-0883) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2026-0009). Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Affected

• Microsoft Azure Linux
• Debian Linux
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• SUSE Linux
• SUSE openSUSE

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/

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