CVE-2025-68821

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: fuse: fix readahead reclaim deadlock Commit e26ee4efbc79 ("fuse: allocate ff->release_args only if release is needed") skips allocating ff->release_args if the server does not implement open. However in doing so, fuse_prepare_release() now skips grabbing the reference on the inode, which makes it possible for an inode to be evicted from the dcache while there are inflight readahead requests. This causes a deadlock if the server triggers reclaim while servicing the readahead request and reclaim attempts to evict the inode of the file being read ahead. Since the folio is locked during readahead, when reclaim evicts the fuse inode and fuse_evict_inode() attempts to remove all folios associated with the inode from the page cache (truncate_inode_pages_range()), reclaim will block forever waiting for the lock since readahead cannot relinquish the lock because it is itself blocked in reclaim: >>> stack_trace(1504735) folio_wait_bit_common (mm/filemap.c:1308:4) folio_lock (./include/linux/pagemap.h:1052:3) truncate_inode_pages_range (mm/truncate.c:336:10) fuse_evict_inode (fs/fuse/inode.c:161:2) evict (fs/inode.c:704:3) dentry_unlink_inode (fs/dcache.c:412:3) __dentry_kill (fs/dcache.c:615:3) shrink_kill (fs/dcache.c:1060:12) shrink_dentry_list (fs/dcache.c:1087:3) prune_dcache_sb (fs/dcache.c:1168:2) super_cache_scan (fs/super.c:221:10) do_shrink_slab (mm/shrinker.c:435:9) shrink_slab (mm/shrinker.c:626:10) shrink_node (mm/vmscan.c:5951:2) shrink_zones (mm/vmscan.c:6195:3) do_try_to_free_pages (mm/vmscan.c:6257:3) do_swap_page (mm/memory.c:4136:11) handle_pte_fault (mm/memory.c:5562:10) handle_mm_fault (mm/memory.c:5870:9) do_user_addr_fault (arch/x86/mm/fault.c:1338:10) handle_page_fault (arch/x86/mm/fault.c:1481:3) exc_page_fault (arch/x86/mm/fault.c:1539:2) asm_exc_page_fault+0x22/0x27 Fix this deadlock by allocating ff->release_args and grabbing the reference on the inode when preparing the file for release even if the server does not implement open. The inode reference will be dropped when the last reference on the fuse file is dropped (see fuse_file_put() -> fuse_release_end()).

Package Linux Kernel
Published 2026-01-13
Last modified 2026-04-15
Patch available
Yes

Affected versions

Linux kernel versions 5.15.196, 6.1.158, 6.6.115, 6.9 and later are affected. Fixed in 5.15.198, 6.1.160, 6.6.120, 6.12.64, 6.18.3, 6.19 and their respective stable series.

Affected from
≥ 5.15.196 ≥ 6.1.158 ≥ 6.6.115 ≥ 6.9
Fixed in
✓ 5.15.198 5.15.x ✓ 6.1.160 6.1.x ✓ 6.6.120 6.6.x ✓ 6.12.64 6.12.x ✓ 6.18.3 6.18.x ✓ 6.19

References

The following references provide additional information about CVE-2025-68821 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-2025-68821?

    CVE-2025-68821 is a unscored severity Linux kernel vulnerability . It affects Linux kernel versions from 5.15.196 onward and has been patched in 5.15.198, 6.1.160, 6.6.120 and others. CVE-2025-68821 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

  • Is there a patch available for CVE-2025-68821?

    Yes — CVE-2025-68821 has been patched. Fixed versions include 5.15.198, 6.1.160, 6.6.120 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 5.15.196 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.

  • Is CVE-2025-68821 actively exploited?

    No — CVE-2025-68821 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.