Race Condition Vulnerability in Linux Kernel's ext4 Filesystem
CVE-2025-68261

Currently unrated

Key Information:

Vendor: Linux
Status: Linux
Vendor: CVE Published:; 16 December 2025

What is CVE-2025-68261?

A vulnerability exists in the Linux kernel's ext4 filesystem related to the handling of inline data destruction. When the function ext4_destroy_inline_data_nolock() modifies the inode data layout by clearing the EXT4_INODE_INLINE_DATA and setting the EXT4_INODE_EXTENTS flag, there is a potential race condition. This occurs because another thread can simultaneously call ext4_map_blocks(), which checks for EXT4_INODE_EXTENTS to determine the correct mapping function (either ext4_ext_map_blocks() or ext4_ind_map_blocks()). In the absence of i_data_sem protection, this can lead to ext4_ind_map_blocks() receiving an inode flagged with EXT4_INODE_EXTENTS, resulting in assert failures, and consequently, causing kernel panics and unmounting of the filesystem.

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