CVE-2025-68265
Description
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel’s NVMe host driver (drivers/nvme/host/core.c) related to the lifetime management of the controller’s admin request queue. Under certain conditions, namespaces could retain stale references to the controller’s admin request queue after the controller was torn down. Accessing these stale references could lead to a use-after-free condition in the kernel, potentially resulting in memory corruption or system instability.
Mitigation
To mitigate this issue, the `nvme` kernel module can be blacklisted to prevent it from being loaded. This will prevent the system from utilizing NVMe devices.
To blacklist the `nvme` module:
1. Create a file named `blacklist-nvme.conf` in `/etc/modprobe.d/` with the following content:
blacklist nvme2. Regenerate the initramfs to ensure the blacklist is applied during boot:
- For RHEL 7, 8, 9, 10: `dracut -f -v`
3. Reboot the system for the changes to take effect.
Warning: Blacklisting the `nvme` module will disable all NVMe storage devices on the system, which may impact system functionality if NVMe devices are used for boot, root filesystem, or other critical operations.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 5.5 | N/A | 7.8 |
| Attack Vector | Local | N/A | Local |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | Low |
| Privileges Required | Low | N/A | Low |
| User Interaction | None | N/A | None |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | None | N/A | High |
| Integrity Impact | None | N/A | High |
| Availability Impact | High | N/A | High |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Confidentiality
Technical Impact: Read Memory
If the expired pointer is used in a read operation, an attacker might be able to control data read in by the application.
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart
If the expired pointer references a memory location that is not accessible to the product, or points to a location that is "malformed" (such as NULL) or larger than expected by a read or write operation, then a crash may occur.
Integrity,Confidentiality,Availability
Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands
If the expired pointer is used in a function call, or points to unexpected data in a write operation, then code execution may be possible.
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