CVE-2025-68768 | inet: frags: flush pending skbs in fqdir_pre_exit()

In 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.

Published: 2026-01-13 Last update: 2026-04-15 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-68768 is rated Low Risk (4.1/100): low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.02%). Mandatory action: Low composite risk—no urgent action required; patch on your normal maintenance cycle and revisit priority if CVSS or EPSS increases.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2025-68768

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-01-14 0.02%

Full EPSS history (1 record total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-68768

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

No CVSS data in dataset for this CVE.

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-68768

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-68768

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2025-68768 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): open 3, resolved 2. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-68768
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-68768
suse medium CVE-2025-68768 severity moderate: SUSE including 381 source package names (13.2-9.1:libsqlite3-0-3.49.1-1.1, 2.1.3-6.115:kernel-default-base-6.4.0-39.1.21.16, …), 579 product×package rows across 70 product lines (Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/baremetal-os-container, Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/base-os-container, … (70 product lines)): Fixed 277, Known Affected 231, Known Not Affected 46, First Fixed 25. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-68768/
ubuntu medium CVE-2025-68768 medium priority: Ubuntu including 157 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1405 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1010, ignored 179, needed 93, released 88, not-affected 24, pending 11. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-68768

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-68768

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
No affected products in dataset.

References for CVE-2025-68768

cvelogic Threat Intelligence