CVE-2025-68199
Unknown Unknown - Not Provided
BaseFortify

Publication date: 2025-12-16

Last updated on: 2025-12-18

Assigner: kernel.org

Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: codetag: debug: handle existing CODETAG_EMPTY in mark_objexts_empty for slabobj_ext When alloc_slab_obj_exts() fails and then later succeeds in allocating a slab extension vector, it calls handle_failed_objexts_alloc() to mark all objects in the vector as empty. As a result all objects in this slab (slabA) will have their extensions set to CODETAG_EMPTY. Later on if this slabA is used to allocate a slabobj_ext vector for another slab (slabB), we end up with the slabB->obj_exts pointing to a slabobj_ext vector that itself has a non-NULL slabobj_ext equal to CODETAG_EMPTY. When slabB gets freed, free_slab_obj_exts() is called to free slabB->obj_exts vector. free_slab_obj_exts() calls mark_objexts_empty(slabB->obj_exts) which will generate a warning because it expects slabobj_ext vectors to have a NULL obj_ext, not CODETAG_EMPTY. Modify mark_objexts_empty() to skip the warning and setting the obj_ext value if it's already set to CODETAG_EMPTY. To quickly detect this WARN, I modified the code from WARN_ON(slab_exts[offs].ref.ct) to BUG_ON(slab_exts[offs].ref.ct == 1); We then obtained this message: [21630.898561] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [21630.898596] kernel BUG at mm/slub.c:2050! [21630.898611] Internal error: Oops - BUG: 00000000f2000800 [#1] SMP [21630.900372] Modules linked in: squashfs isofs vfio_iommu_type1 vhost_vsock vfio vhost_net vmw_vsock_virtio_transport_common vhost tap vhost_iotlb iommufd vsock binfmt_misc nfsv3 nfs_acl nfs lockd grace netfs tls rds dns_resolver tun brd overlay ntfs3 exfat btrfs blake2b_generic xor xor_neon raid6_pq loop sctp ip6_udp_tunnel udp_tunnel nft_fib_inet nft_fib_ipv4 nft_fib_ipv6 nft_fib nft_reject_inet nf_reject_ipv4 nf_reject_ipv6 nft_reject nft_ct nft_chain_nat nf_nat nf_conntrack nf_defrag_ipv6 nf_defrag_ipv4 nf_tables rfkill ip_set sunrpc vfat fat joydev sg sch_fq_codel nfnetlink virtio_gpu sr_mod cdrom drm_client_lib virtio_dma_buf drm_shmem_helper drm_kms_helper drm ghash_ce backlight virtio_net virtio_blk virtio_scsi net_failover virtio_console failover virtio_mmio dm_mirror dm_region_hash dm_log dm_multipath dm_mod fuse i2c_dev virtio_pci virtio_pci_legacy_dev virtio_pci_modern_dev virtio virtio_ring autofs4 aes_neon_bs aes_ce_blk [last unloaded: hwpoison_inject] [21630.909177] CPU: 3 UID: 0 PID: 3787 Comm: kylin-process-m Kdump: loaded Tainted: G        W           6.18.0-rc1+ #74 PREEMPT(voluntary) [21630.910495] Tainted: [W]=WARN [21630.910867] Hardware name: QEMU KVM Virtual Machine, BIOS unknown 2/2/2022 [21630.911625] pstate: 80400005 (Nzcv daif +PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) [21630.912392] pc : __free_slab+0x228/0x250 [21630.912868] lr : __free_slab+0x18c/0x250[21630.913334] sp : ffff8000a02f73e0 [21630.913830] x29: ffff8000a02f73e0 x28: fffffdffc43fc800 x27: ffff0000c0011c40 [21630.914677] x26: ffff0000c000cac0 x25: ffff00010fe5e5f0 x24: ffff000102199b40 [21630.915469] x23: 0000000000000003 x22: 0000000000000003 x21: ffff0000c0011c40 [21630.916259] x20: fffffdffc4086600 x19: fffffdffc43fc800 x18: 0000000000000000 [21630.917048] x17: 0000000000000000 x16: 0000000000000000 x15: 0000000000000000 [21630.917837] x14: 0000000000000000 x13: 0000000000000000 x12: ffff70001405ee66 [21630.918640] x11: 1ffff0001405ee65 x10: ffff70001405ee65 x9 : ffff800080a295dc [21630.919442] x8 : ffff8000a02f7330 x7 : 0000000000000000 x6 : 0000000000003000 [21630.920232] x5 : 0000000024924925 x4 : 0000000000000001 x3 : 0000000000000007 [21630.921021] x2 : 0000000000001b40 x1 : 000000000000001f x0 : 0000000000000001 [21630.921810] Call trace: [21630.922130]  __free_slab+0x228/0x250 (P) [21630.922669]  free_slab+0x38/0x118 [21630.923079]  free_to_partial_list+0x1d4/0x340 [21630.923591]  __slab_free+0x24c/0x348 [21630.924024]  ___cache_free+0xf0/0x110 [21630.924468]  qlist_free_all+0x78/0x130 [21630.924922]  kasan_quarantine_reduce+0x11 ---truncated---
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Meta Information
Published
2025-12-16
Last Modified
2025-12-18
Generated
2026-05-07
AI Q&A
2025-12-16
EPSS Evaluated
2026-05-05
NVD
CVE-2025-68199
EUVD
EUVD-2025-203697
Affected Vendors & Products
Showing 1 associated CPE
Vendor Product Version / Range
linux linux_kernel 6.18.0-rc1
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
CWE
CWE Icon
KEV
KEV Icon
CWE ID Description
CWE-UNKNOWN
Attack-Flow Graph
AI Powered Q&A
Can you explain this vulnerability to me?

This vulnerability involves the Linux kernel's slab allocator where an error in handling slab object extensions can cause incorrect marking of objects as empty. Specifically, when allocation of slab object extensions fails and then later succeeds, the system marks all objects in a slab as empty using a special marker (CODETAG_EMPTY). If this slab is reused for another allocation, the new slab's object extensions may incorrectly point to this marker instead of being NULL, which leads to warnings and potential kernel bugs when the slab is freed. The fix modifies the code to skip warnings and avoid resetting the marker if it is already set to CODETAG_EMPTY.


How can this vulnerability impact me? :

This vulnerability can cause kernel warnings and potentially trigger kernel bugs or crashes (kernel BUGs) due to improper handling of slab object extensions. This can lead to system instability or crashes, affecting the reliability and availability of systems running the affected Linux kernel versions.


How can this vulnerability be detected on my network or system? Can you suggest some commands?

This vulnerability can be detected by monitoring kernel logs for specific BUG or WARN messages related to slab object extensions. For example, the kernel log may show messages like 'kernel BUG at mm/slub.c:2050!' or warnings generated by mark_objexts_empty(). You can check the kernel logs using commands such as 'dmesg | grep -i BUG' or 'dmesg | grep -i slab' to look for these indicators. Additionally, modifying the kernel code to change WARN_ON to BUG_ON as described can help in detecting the issue during testing.


What immediate steps should I take to mitigate this vulnerability?

Immediate mitigation involves updating the Linux kernel to a version where this vulnerability is fixed. The fix modifies the mark_objexts_empty() function to skip warnings and setting the obj_ext value if it is already set to CODETAG_EMPTY, preventing the BUG from occurring. Until the patch is applied, monitoring kernel logs for related BUG or WARN messages and avoiding workloads that trigger slab object extension allocations may reduce risk.


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