CVE-2025-68816

Host crash via firmware-supplied format strings

Published Jan 13, 2026 · Updated Jan 13, 2026

Format-string injection in the Linux Kernel mlx5 firmware tracer allows attackers controlling device firmware to crash the kernel. The tracer accepts unsafe pointer, string, and write conversions in firmware-supplied trace formats instead of restricting parsing to integer conversions. Reachability requires an mlx5 device whose firmware supplies a malformed trace format; unsafe memory access or undefined behavior can terminate the host.

CVSS severityUnavailable
Unscored
EPSS probability0.21%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Format-string injection in the Linux Kernel mlx5 firmware tracer allows attackers controlling device firmware to crash the kernel. The tracer accepts unsafe pointer, string, and write conversions in firmware-supplied trace formats instead of restricting parsing to integer conversions. Reachability requires an mlx5 device whose firmware supplies a malformed trace format; unsafe memory access or undefined behavior can terminate the host.

The record

CVE
CVE-2025-68816
Published
Jan 13, 2026
Updated
Jan 13, 2026
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux Kernel
Classifications
T1499
Attack vector
Unavailable
Privileges
Unavailable

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jan 13, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Jan 13, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=4.19
  2. Affected versionversion=70dd6fdb8987b14f7b6105f6be0617299e459398 <38ac688b52ef26a88f8bc4fe26d24fdd0ff91e5d
  3. Affected versionversion=70dd6fdb8987b14f7b6105f6be0617299e459398 <45bd283b1d69e2c97cddcb9956f0e0261fc4efd7
  4. Affected versionversion=70dd6fdb8987b14f7b6105f6be0617299e459398 <8ac688c0e430dab19f6a9b70df94b1f635612c1a
  5. Affected versionversion=70dd6fdb8987b14f7b6105f6be0617299e459398 <8c35c2448086870509ede43947845be0833251f0
  6. Affected versionversion=70dd6fdb8987b14f7b6105f6be0617299e459398 <b35966042d20b14e2d83330049f77deec5229749

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorUnavailable in this record.
Required privilegesUnavailable in this record.

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linux Kernelversion=4.19; version=70dd6fdb8987b14f7b6105f6be0617299e459398 <38ac688b52ef26a88f8bc4fe26d24fdd0ff91e5d; version=70dd6fdb8987b14f7b6105f6be0617299e459398 <45bd283b1d69e2c97cddcb9956f0e0261fc4efd7; version=70dd6fdb8987b14f7b6105f6be0617299e459398 <8ac688c0e430dab19f6a9b70df94b1f635612c1a; version=70dd6fdb8987b14f7b6105f6be0617299e459398 <8c35c2448086870509ede43947845be0833251f0; version=70dd6fdb8987b14f7b6105f6be0617299e459398 <b35966042d20b14e2d83330049f77deec5229749

Published CVSS scores

No CVSS assessment is available in this record.

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

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No observations available

Sep 9, 2026Sep 15, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 15, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
VectorUnavailable
PrivilegesUnavailable
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

T1499Endpoint Denial of Service

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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