What’s Vulnerable › Vulnerabilities

CVE-2025-68820: ext4: xattr: fix null pointer deref in ext4_raw_inode()

• Severity: unknown
• Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
• EPSS: 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
• Public exploit or detection template: none known
• Published: 2026-01-13 · updated 2026-10-19
• Weakness: CWE-476

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: xattr: fix null pointer deref in ext4_raw_inode() If ext4_get_inode_loc() fails (e.g. if it returns -EFSCORRUPTED), iloc.bh will remain set to NULL. Since ext4_xattr_inode_dec_ref_all() lacks error checking, this will lead to a null pointer dereference in ext4_raw_inode(), called right after ext4_get_inode_loc(). Found by Linux Verification Center (linuxtesting.org) with SVACE.

Affected products

• Linux kernel: from 5.10.237 before 5.10.248; from 5.15.181 before 5.15.198; from 6.1.135 before 6.1.160; from 6.6.88 before 6.6.120; from 6.12.24 before 6.12.64; from 5.4.293 before 5.5 — fixed in 5.10.248, 5.15.198, 5.5, 6.1.160, 6.12.64, 6.14

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 5.10.248, 5.15.198, 5.5, 6.1.160. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/190ad0f22ba49f1101182b80e3af50ca2ddfe72f
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3d8d22e75f7edfa0b30ff27330fd6a1285d594c3
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5b154e901fda2e98570b8f426a481f5740097dc2
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b5d942922182e82724b7152cb998f540132885ec
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b72a3476f0c97d02f63a6e9fff127348d55436f6
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b97cb7d6a051aa6ebd57906df0e26e9e36c26d14
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ce5f54c065a4a7cbb92787f4f140917112350142
• https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-019113.html
• https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-457936.html

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