CVE-2025-68231
BaseFortify
Publication date: 2025-12-16
Last updated on: 2025-12-18
Assigner: kernel.org
Description
Description
CVSS Scores
EPSS Scores
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Meta Information
Affected Vendors & Products
| Vendor | Product | Version / Range |
|---|---|---|
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.18.0-rc2 |
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
| CWE ID | Description |
|---|---|
| CWE-UNKNOWN |
Attack-Flow Graph
AI Powered Q&A
How can this vulnerability be detected on my network or system? Can you suggest some commands?
This vulnerability can be detected by monitoring for kernel oops messages related to page faults and memory poisoning errors, specifically messages like 'BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: fffba000' and traces involving mempool functions. Checking the kernel logs (e.g., using 'dmesg' or 'journalctl -k') for such oops messages can help identify if the system is affected. Example commands to detect this include: 'dmesg | grep -i "BUG: unable to handle page fault"' or 'journalctl -k | grep mempool'.
Can you explain this vulnerability to me?
This vulnerability in the Linux kernel relates to the memory pool (mempool) subsystem, specifically how it handles poisoning of high-order pages when CONFIG_HIGHMEM is enabled. The poisoning code does not properly manage pages beyond the first one in a high-order allocation, leading to a kernel page fault and an 'Oops' error due to supervisor write access on a not-present page. The issue arises because only the first page is mapped, but the code attempts to access the entire high-order page, causing a fault. The fix involves iterating over individual pages to map, poison, check, and unmap them properly.
How can this vulnerability impact me? :
This vulnerability can cause the Linux kernel to crash or become unstable due to a page fault triggered by improper handling of high-order memory pages. This can lead to system crashes (kernel oops), potentially causing downtime or data loss on affected systems running the vulnerable kernel version.
What immediate steps should I take to mitigate this vulnerability?
Apply the Linux kernel patch that fixes the poisoning order>0 pages with HIGHMEM issue in the mm/mempool subsystem. This involves updating your kernel to a version that includes the fix for this vulnerability, as it addresses the improper handling of HIGHMEM pages during poisoning. Avoid using kernels with the vulnerable code until patched.