CVE-2025-68768

NameCVE-2025-68768
DescriptionIn the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: inet: frags: flush pending skbs in fqdir_pre_exit() We have been seeing occasional deadlocks on pernet_ops_rwsem since September in NIPA. The stuck task was usually modprobe (often loading a driver like ipvlan), trying to take the lock as a Writer. lockdep does not track readers for rwsems so the read wasn't obvious from the reports. On closer inspection the Reader holding the lock was conntrack looping forever in nf_conntrack_cleanup_net_list(). Based on past experience with occasional NIPA crashes I looked thru the tests which run before the crash and noticed that the crash follows ip_defrag.sh. An immediate red flag. Scouring thru (de)fragmentation queues reveals skbs sitting around, holding conntrack references. The problem is that since conntrack depends on nf_defrag_ipv6, nf_defrag_ipv6 will load first. Since nf_defrag_ipv6 loads first its netns exit hooks run _after_ conntrack's netns exit hook. Flush all fragment queue SKBs during fqdir_pre_exit() to release conntrack references before conntrack cleanup runs. Also flush the queues in timer expiry handlers when they discover fqdir->dead is set, in case packet sneaks in while we're running the pre_exit flush. The commit under Fixes is not exactly the culprit, but I think previously the timer firing would eventually unblock the spinning conntrack.
SourceCVE (at NVD; CERT, ENISA, LWN, oss-sec, fulldisc, Debian ELTS, Red Hat, Ubuntu, Gentoo, SUSE bugzilla/CVE, GitHub advisories/code/issues, web search, more)

Vulnerable and fixed packages

The table below lists information on source packages.

Source PackageReleaseVersionStatus
linux (PTS)bullseye5.10.223-1vulnerable
bullseye (security)5.10.247-1vulnerable
bookworm6.1.159-1vulnerable
bookworm (security)6.1.158-1vulnerable
trixie6.12.63-1vulnerable
trixie (security)6.12.48-1vulnerable
forky, sid6.18.5-1fixed

The information below is based on the following data on fixed versions.

PackageTypeReleaseFixed VersionUrgencyOriginDebian Bugs
linuxsource(unstable)6.18.3-1

Notes

https://git.kernel.org/linus/006a5035b495dec008805df249f92c22c89c3d2e (6.19-rc2)

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