Vulnerability in Linux

CVE-2025-68263

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ksmbd: ipc: fix use-after-free in ipc_msg_send_request ipc_msg_send_request() waits for a generic netlink reply using an ipc_msg_table_entry on the stack. The generic netlink handler (handle_generic_event()/handle_response()) fills entry->response under ipc_msg_table_lock, but ipc_msg_send_request() used to validate and free entry->response without holding the same lock. Under high concurrency this allows a race where handle_response() is copying data into entry->response while ipc_msg_send_request() has just freed it, leading to a slab-use-after-free reported by KASAN in handle_generic_event(): BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in handle_generic_event+0x3c4/0x5f0 [ksmbd] Write of size 12 at addr ffff888198ee6e20 by task pool/109349 ... Freed by task: kvfree ipc_msg_send_request [ksmbd] ksmbd_rpc_open -> ksmbd_session_rpc_open [ksmbd] Fix by: - Taking ipc_msg_table_lock in ipc_msg_send_request() while validating entry->response, freeing it when invalid, and removing the entry from ipc_msg_table. - Returning the final entry->response pointer to the caller only after the hash entry is removed under the lock. - Returning NULL in the error path, preserving the original API semantics. This makes all accesses to entry->response consistent with handle_response(), which already updates and fills the response buffer under ipc_msg_table_lock, and closes the race that allowed the UAF.

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 9.8 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.004 (36.2th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 36th percentile — 36.2% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2025-68263: held from 0.004 to 0.004.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.004 · newest: 0.004 · change: +0.000

Affected products

  • Linux — versions 0626e6641f6b467447c81dd7678a69c66f7746cf, 5.15, 0

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2025-68263?
CVE-2025-68263 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Linux. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2025-12-16.
How severe is CVE-2025-68263?
Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.