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Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2025-68169

medium Nessus Plugin ID 279006

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Synopsis

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed with a vulnerability that the vendor indicates will not be patched.

Description

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

 - netpoll: Fix deadlock in memory allocation under spinlock Fix a AA deadlock in refill_skbs() where memory allocation while holding skb_pool->lock can trigger a recursive lock acquisition attempt. The deadlock scenario occurs when the system is under severe memory pressure: 1. refill_skbs() acquires skb_pool->lock (spinlock) 2. alloc_skb() is called while holding the lock 3. Memory allocator fails and calls slab_out_of_memory() 4. This triggers printk() for the OOM warning 5. The console output path calls netpoll_send_udp() 6. netpoll_send_udp() attempts to acquire the same skb_pool->lock 7. Deadlock: the lock is already held by the same CPU Call stack: refill_skbs() spin_lock_irqsave(&skb_pool->lock) <- lock acquired __alloc_skb() kmem_cache_alloc_node_noprof() slab_out_of_memory() printk() console_flush_all() netpoll_send_udp() skb_dequeue() spin_lock_irqsave(&skb_pool->lock) <- deadlock attempt This bug was exposed by commit 248f6571fd4c51 (netpoll: Optimize skb refilling on critical path) which removed refill_skbs() from the critical path (where nested printk was being deferred), letting nested printk being called from inside refill_skbs() Refactor refill_skbs() to never allocate memory while holding the spinlock. Another possible solution to fix this problem is protecting the refill_skbs() from nested printks, basically calling printk_deferred_{enter,exit}() in refill_skbs(), then, any nested pr_warn() would be deferred. I prefer this approach, given I _think_ it might be a good idea to move the alloc_skb() from GFP_ATOMIC to GFP_KERNEL in the future, so, having the alloc_skb() outside of the lock will be necessary step. There is a possible TOCTOU issue when checking for the pool length, and queueing the new allocated skb, but, this is not an issue, given that an extra SKB in the pool is harmless and it will be eventually used. (CVE-2025-68169)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

Solution

There is no known solution at this time.

See Also

https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-68169

Plugin Details

Severity: Medium

ID: 279006

File Name: unpatched_CVE_2025_68169.nasl

Version: 1.3

Type: local

Agent: unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 12/17/2025

Updated: 1/10/2026

Supported Sensors: Frictionless Assessment AWS, Frictionless Assessment Azure, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Nessus Agent, Agentless Assessment, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 4.4

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 4.9

Temporal Score: 4.2

Vector: CVSS2#AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2025-68169

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 5.5

Temporal Score: 5.1

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:U/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:20.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gke, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-edge, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gke-5.4, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gkeop, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gkeop-5.4, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oracle, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-raspi, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-raspi2, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-fde, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:22.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gke-5.15, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:24.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe-6.11, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.11, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe-6.5, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-nvidia-6.5, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-6.8, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-6.11, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-riscv, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gkeop-5.15, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe-edge, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-intel-iot-realtime, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-raspi-realtime, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-realtime, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-5.0, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-5.3, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-5.3, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gke-4.15, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-5.6, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oracle-5.0, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oracle-5.3, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe-5.8, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-nvidia-6.2, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-6.5, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-6.5, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-6.5, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oracle-6.5, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-allwinner-5.19, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-intel-5.13, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-riscv-5.19, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-starfive-5.19, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-starfive-6.5, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-6.11, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:25.04, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-5.3, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-5.8, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-5.11, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-5.13, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-5.19, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-6.2, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-6.5, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-5.8, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-5.11, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-5.13, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-5.19, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-6.2, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-fde-5.19, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-fde-6.2, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-5.8, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-5.11, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-5.13, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-5.19, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-6.2, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-6.11, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe-5.11, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe-5.13, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe-5.19, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe-6.2, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-5.10, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-5.14, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-5.17, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-6.0, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-6.1, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oracle-5.8, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oracle-5.11, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oracle-5.13, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-riscv-5.8, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-riscv-5.11, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-riscv-6.5, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-riscv-6.14, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-starfive-6.2, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-5.13, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-nvidia-6.11, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:25.10, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-xilinx, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem-6.17

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/cpu, global_settings/vendor_unpatched, Host/OS/identifier

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Vulnerability Publication Date: 12/16/2025

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2025-68169