CVE-2025-68179

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: s390: Disable ARCH_WANT_OPTIMIZE_HUGETLB_VMEMMAP As reported by Luiz Capitulino enabling HVO on s390 leads to reproducible crashes. The problem is that kernel page tables are modified without flushing corresponding TLB entries. Even if it looks like the empty flush_tlb_all() implementation on s390 is the problem, it is actually a different problem: on s390 it is not allowed to replace an active/valid page table entry with another valid page table entry without the detour over an invalid entry. A direct replacement may lead to random crashes and/or data corruption. In order to invalidate an entry special instructions have to be used (e.g. ipte or idte). Alternatively there are also special instructions available which allow to replace a valid entry with a different valid entry (e.g. crdte or cspg). Given that the HVO code currently does not provide the hooks to allow for an implementation which is compliant with the s390 architecture requirements, disable ARCH_WANT_OPTIMIZE_HUGETLB_VMEMMAP again, which is basically a revert of the original patch which enabled it.

Package Linux Kernel
Published 2025-12-16
Last modified 2026-04-15
Patch available
Yes

Affected versions

Linux kernel versions 6.2 and later are affected. Fixed in 6.6.117, 6.12.58, 6.17.8, 6.18 and their respective stable series.

Affected from
≥ 6.2
Fixed in
✓ 6.6.117 6.6.x ✓ 6.12.58 6.12.x ✓ 6.17.8 6.17.x ✓ 6.18

References

The following references provide additional information about CVE-2025-68179 including vendor advisories, patch commits, exploit details, and third-party analysis. Links are sourced from the NIST NVD database.

Frequently asked questions

  • What is CVE-2025-68179?

    CVE-2025-68179 is a unscored severity Linux kernel vulnerability . It affects Linux kernel versions from 6.2 onward and has been patched in 6.6.117, 6.12.58, 6.17.8 and others. CVE-2025-68179 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

  • Is there a patch available for CVE-2025-68179?

    Yes — CVE-2025-68179 has been patched. Fixed versions include 6.6.117, 6.12.58, 6.17.8 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 6.2 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.

  • Is CVE-2025-68179 actively exploited?

    No — CVE-2025-68179 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.