Kernel crash via unvalidated BFS inode types
Published Dec 16, 2025 · Updated Dec 16, 2025
Improper input validation in Linux BFS allows local users to crash the kernel by mounting a filesystem with corrupted inode metadata. The inode loader in fs/bfs/inode.c trusts file-type bits from the on-disk mode and attributes fields instead of masking the unused mode bits and accepting only BFS_VREG or BFS_VDIR. Exploitation requires local access sufficient to present and mount a crafted BFS image, and the documented consequence is loss of host availability.
Summary
What happened
Improper input validation in Linux BFS allows local users to crash the kernel by mounting a filesystem with corrupted inode metadata. The inode loader in fs/bfs/inode.c trusts file-type bits from the on-disk mode and attributes fields instead of masking the unused mode bits and accepting only BFS_VREG or BFS_VDIR. Exploitation requires local access sufficient to present and mount a crafted BFS image, and the documented consequence is loss of host availability.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-68266
- Published
- Dec 16, 2025
- Updated
- Dec 16, 2025
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-825, T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Dec 16, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Dec 16, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
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- Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <34ab4c75588c07cca12884f2bf6b0347c7a13872
- Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <77899444d46162aeb65f229590c26ba266864223
- Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <a8cb796e7e2cb7971311ba236922f5e7e1be77e6
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
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Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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