CVE-2025-68261

LOWCVSS 7.5 · HIGH

Signal is active with 1 mentions in latest observed window

Immediate actions

  • Track advisory updates for patch or workaround availability

Recommended action window: Monitor and triage in normal cycle

NVD description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: add i_data_sem protection in ext4_destroy_inline_data_nolock() Fix a race between inline data destruction and block mapping. The function ext4_destroy_inline_data_nolock() changes the inode data layout by clearing EXT4_INODE_INLINE_DATA and setting EXT4_INODE_EXTENTS. At the same time, another thread may execute ext4_map_blocks(), which tests EXT4_INODE_EXTENTS to decide whether to call ext4_ext_map_blocks() or ext4_ind_map_blocks(). Without i_data_sem protection, ext4_ind_map_blocks() may receive inode with EXT4_INODE_EXTENTS flag and triggering assert. kernel BUG at fs/ext4/indirect.c:546! EXT4-fs (loop2): unmounting filesystem. invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP KASAN NOPTI Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.12.0-1 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:ext4_ind_map_blocks.cold+0x2b/0x5a fs/ext4/indirect.c:546 Call Trace: <TASK> ext4_map_blocks+0xb9b/0x16f0 fs/ext4/inode.c:681 _ext4_get_block+0x242/0x590 fs/ext4/inode.c:822 ext4_block_write_begin+0x48b/0x12c0 fs/ext4/inode.c:1124 ext4_write_begin+0x598/0xef0 fs/ext4/inode.c:1255 ext4_da_write_begin+0x21e/0x9c0 fs/ext4/inode.c:3000 generic_perform_write+0x259/0x5d0 mm/filemap.c:3846 ext4_buffered_write_iter+0x15b/0x470 fs/ext4/file.c:285 ext4_file_write_iter+0x8e0/0x17f0 fs/ext4/file.c:679 call_write_iter include/linux/fs.h:2271 [inline] do_iter_readv_writev+0x212/0x3c0 fs/read_write.c:735 do_iter_write+0x186/0x710 fs/read_write.c:861 vfs_iter_write+0x70/0xa0 fs/read_write.c:902 iter_file_splice_write+0x73b/0xc90 fs/splice.c:685 do_splice_from fs/splice.c:763 [inline] direct_splice_actor+0x10f/0x170 fs/splice.c:950 splice_direct_to_actor+0x33a/0xa10 fs/splice.c:896 do_splice_direct+0x1a9/0x280 fs/splice.c:1002 do_sendfile+0xb13/0x12c0 fs/read_write.c:1255 __do_sys_sendfile64 fs/read_write.c:1323 [inline] __se_sys_sendfile64 fs/read_write.c:1309 [inline] __x64_sys_sendfile64+0x1cf/0x210 fs/read_write.c:1309 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:51 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x35/0x80 arch/x86/entry/common.c:81 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x6e/0xd8

0.0/ 10 priority

Sources & remediation

Priority

LOW

Exploitation

NONE

PoC

NONE

Patch

NONE

Momentum

NONE

Threat summary

  • 1 mentions across 1 observed day

What's happening

  • 1 total mentions across 1 day

Deep dive

Activity timeline1 mentions / 1d
00111Mentions · 2026-09-29: 109-29
Referenced assets1 URL
By indicator
Full discourse1 post
  • LinuxSecurity@lnxsec

    A filesystem can be consistent on disk and still expose a dangerous race in memory. CVE-2025-68261 sits in the transition between ext4 inline data and extent-backed storage. The vulnerable path could change inode layout without the `i_data_sem` protection needed to keep concurrent block mapping from observing an incompatible state. That distinction matters during incident response. A kernel BUG under I/O pressure can look like failing hardware, corrupted storage, or an application problem unless the team correlates the crash with the exact ext4 path and kernel build. **In practical terms, it is a good time to:** - capture `uname -r`, distribution package versions, and ext4 mount details during filesystem-related incidents - search journald or centralized kernel logs for `ext4_ind_map_blocks`, `ext4_map_blocks`, and `kernel BUG` - verify whether affected kernels contain the stable fix rather than relying on upstream version numbers alone - retain crash dumps where kdump is available so filesystem failures can be traced beyond the application layer Would your current incident workflow distinguish this race from an ordinary storage failure? #Linux #IncidentResponse #KernelSecurity #SecurityOperations https://linuxsecurity.com/features/linux-ext4-inline-directory-conversion-race

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