DEBIAN-CVE-2025-68169

Source
https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-68169
Import Source
https://storage.googleapis.com/debian-osv/debian-cve-osv/DEBIAN-CVE-2025-68169.json
JSON Data
https://api.osv.dev/v1/vulns/DEBIAN-CVE-2025-68169
Upstream
Published
2025-12-16T14:15:48.760Z
Modified
2025-12-17T11:11:59.152003Z
Summary
[none]
Details

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netpoll: Fix deadlock in memory allocation under spinlock Fix a AA deadlock in refillskbs() where memory allocation while holding skbpool->lock can trigger a recursive lock acquisition attempt. The deadlock scenario occurs when the system is under severe memory pressure: 1. refillskbs() acquires skbpool->lock (spinlock) 2. allocskb() is called while holding the lock 3. Memory allocator fails and calls slaboutofmemory() 4. This triggers printk() for the OOM warning 5. The console output path calls netpollsendudp() 6. netpollsendudp() attempts to acquire the same skbpool->lock 7. Deadlock: the lock is already held by the same CPU Call stack: refillskbs() spinlockirqsave(&skbpool->lock) <- lock acquired _allocskb() kmemcacheallocnodenoprof() slaboutofmemory() printk() consoleflushall() netpollsendudp() skbdequeue() spinlockirqsave(&skbpool->lock) <- deadlock attempt This bug was exposed by commit 248f6571fd4c51 ("netpoll: Optimize skb refilling on critical path") which removed refillskbs() from the critical path (where nested printk was being deferred), letting nested printk being called from inside refillskbs() Refactor refillskbs() to never allocate memory while holding the spinlock. Another possible solution to fix this problem is protecting the refillskbs() from nested printks, basically calling printkdeferred{enter,exit}() in refillskbs(), then, any nested prwarn() would be deferred. I prefer this approach, given I think it might be a good idea to move the allocskb() from GFPATOMIC to GFPKERNEL in the future, so, having the allocskb() outside of the lock will be necessary step. There is a possible TOCTOU issue when checking for the pool length, and queueing the new allocated skb, but, this is not an issue, given that an extra SKB in the pool is harmless and it will be eventually used.

References

Affected packages

Debian:14 / linux

Package

Name
linux
Purl
pkg:deb/debian/linux?arch=source

Affected ranges

Type
ECOSYSTEM
Events
Introduced
0Unknown introduced version / All previous versions are affected
Fixed
6.17.8-1

Affected versions

6.*
6.12.38-1
6.12.41-1
6.12.43-1~bpo12+1
6.12.43-1
6.12.48-1
6.12.57-1~bpo12+1
6.12.57-1
6.13~rc6-1~exp1
6.13~rc7-1~exp1
6.13.2-1~exp1
6.13.3-1~exp1
6.13.4-1~exp1
6.13.5-1~exp1
6.13.6-1~exp1
6.13.7-1~exp1
6.13.8-1~exp1
6.13.9-1~exp1
6.13.10-1~exp1
6.13.11-1~exp1
6.14.3-1~exp1
6.14.5-1~exp1
6.14.6-1~exp1
6.15~rc7-1~exp1
6.15-1~exp1
6.15.1-1~exp1
6.15.2-1~exp1
6.15.3-1~exp1
6.15.4-1~exp1
6.15.5-1~exp1
6.15.6-1~exp1
6.16~rc7-1~exp1
6.16-1~exp1
6.16.1-1~exp1
6.16.3-1~bpo13+1
6.16.3-1
6.16.5-1
6.16.6-1
6.16.7-1
6.16.8-1
6.16.9-1
6.16.10-1
6.16.11-1
6.16.12-1~bpo13+1
6.16.12-1
6.16.12-2
6.17.2-1~exp1
6.17.5-1~exp1
6.17.6-1
6.17.7-1
6.17.7-2
6.17.8-1~bpo13+1

Ecosystem specific

{
    "urgency": "not yet assigned"
}

Database specific

source
"https://storage.googleapis.com/debian-osv/debian-cve-osv/DEBIAN-CVE-2025-68169.json"