Linux Kernel up to 6.19-rc1 ksmbd smb2_set_ea buffer overflow

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.1.159/6.6.119/6.12.63/6.18.2/6.19-rc1. Affected is the function smb2_set_ea of the component ksmbd. Performing a manipulation results in buffer overflow. This vulnerability is reported as CVE-2025-68806. No exploit exists. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.1.159/6.6.119/6.12.63/6.18.2/6.19-rc1. It has been classified as critical. This affects the function smb2_set_ea of the component ksmbd. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a buffer overflow vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-120. The product copies an input buffer to an output buffer without verifying that the size of the input buffer is less than the size of the output buffer, leading to a buffer overflow. 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: ksmbd: fix buffer validation by including null terminator size in EA length The smb2_set_ea function, which handles Extended Attributes (EA), was performing buffer validation checks that incorrectly omitted the size of the null terminating character (+1 byte) for EA Name. This patch fixes the issue by explicitly adding '+ 1' to EaNameLength where the null terminator is expected to be present in the buffer, ensuring the validation accurately reflects the total required buffer size.

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2025-68806 since 12/24/2025. The exploitability is told to be easy. 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 03/27/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 298659 (Debian dla-4476 : linux-config-6.1 - security update), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.1.160, 6.6.120, 6.12.64, 6.18.3 or 6.19-rc2 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch cae52c592a07e1d3fa3338a5f064a374a5f26750/a28a375a5439eb474e9f284509a407efb479c925/d26af6d14da43ab92d07bc60437c62901dc522e6/6dc8cf6e7998ef7aeb9383a4c2904ea5d22fa2e4/95d7a890e4b03e198836d49d699408fd1867cb55 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 (298659) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2026-0086). Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for 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

• 6.1.159
• 6.6.119
• 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
• 6.12.63
• 6.18.0
• 6.18.1
• 6.18.2
• 6.19-rc1

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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