CVE-2025-68262
crypto: zstd - fix double-free in per-CPU stream cleanup
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: crypto: zstd - fix double-free in per-CPU stream cleanup The crypto/zstd module has a double-free bug that occurs when multiple tfms are allocated and freed. The issue happens because zstd_streams (per-CPU contexts) are freed in zstd_exit() during every tfm destruction, rather than being managed at the module level. When multiple tfms exist, each tfm exit attempts to free the same shared per-CPU streams, resulting in a double-free. This leads to a stack trace similar to: BUG: Bad page state in process kworker/u16:1 pfn:106fd93 page: refcount:0 mapcount:0 mapping:0000000000000000 index:0x0 pfn:0x106fd93 flags: 0x17ffffc0000000(node=0|zone=2|lastcpupid=0x1fffff) page_type: 0xffffffff() raw: 0017ffffc0000000 dead000000000100 dead000000000122 0000000000000000 raw: 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 00000000ffffffff 0000000000000000 page dumped because: nonzero entire_mapcount Modules linked in: ... CPU: 3 UID: 0 PID: 2506 Comm: kworker/u16:1 Kdump: loaded Tainted: G B Hardware name: ... Workqueue: btrfs-delalloc btrfs_work_helper Call Trace: <TASK> dump_stack_lvl+0x5d/0x80 bad_page+0x71/0xd0 free_unref_page_prepare+0x24e/0x490 free_unref_page+0x60/0x170 crypto_acomp_free_streams+0x5d/0xc0 crypto_acomp_exit_tfm+0x23/0x50 crypto_destroy_tfm+0x60/0xc0 ... Change the lifecycle management of zstd_streams to free the streams only once during module cleanup.
INFO
Published Date :
Dec. 16, 2025, 3:15 p.m.
Last Modified :
Dec. 16, 2025, 3:15 p.m.
Remotely Exploit :
No
Source :
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
Solution
- Modify zstd streams lifecycle management.
- Free per-CPU streams only during module cleanup.
- Apply the patch to the Linux kernel.
- Recompile and deploy the updated kernel.
References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools
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CVE-2025-68262.
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration
While CVE identifies
specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or
weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2025-68262 is
associated with the following CWEs:
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification
(CAPEC)
stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and
approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2025-68262
weaknesses.
We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).
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The following list is the news that have been mention
CVE-2025-68262 vulnerability anywhere in the article.
The following table lists the changes that have been made to the
CVE-2025-68262 vulnerability over time.
Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.
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New CVE Received by 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
Dec. 16, 2025
Action Type Old Value New Value Added Description In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: crypto: zstd - fix double-free in per-CPU stream cleanup The crypto/zstd module has a double-free bug that occurs when multiple tfms are allocated and freed. The issue happens because zstd_streams (per-CPU contexts) are freed in zstd_exit() during every tfm destruction, rather than being managed at the module level. When multiple tfms exist, each tfm exit attempts to free the same shared per-CPU streams, resulting in a double-free. This leads to a stack trace similar to: BUG: Bad page state in process kworker/u16:1 pfn:106fd93 page: refcount:0 mapcount:0 mapping:0000000000000000 index:0x0 pfn:0x106fd93 flags: 0x17ffffc0000000(node=0|zone=2|lastcpupid=0x1fffff) page_type: 0xffffffff() raw: 0017ffffc0000000 dead000000000100 dead000000000122 0000000000000000 raw: 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 00000000ffffffff 0000000000000000 page dumped because: nonzero entire_mapcount Modules linked in: ... CPU: 3 UID: 0 PID: 2506 Comm: kworker/u16:1 Kdump: loaded Tainted: G B Hardware name: ... Workqueue: btrfs-delalloc btrfs_work_helper Call Trace: <TASK> dump_stack_lvl+0x5d/0x80 bad_page+0x71/0xd0 free_unref_page_prepare+0x24e/0x490 free_unref_page+0x60/0x170 crypto_acomp_free_streams+0x5d/0xc0 crypto_acomp_exit_tfm+0x23/0x50 crypto_destroy_tfm+0x60/0xc0 ... Change the lifecycle management of zstd_streams to free the streams only once during module cleanup. Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/48bc9da3c97c15f1ea24934bcb3b736acd30163d Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/dc0f4509b0ed5d82bef78e058db0ac4df04d0695 Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e983feaa79de1e46c9087fb9f02fedb0e5397ce6