# CVE-2025-68189: drm/msm: Fix GEM free for imported dma-bufs

> A null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel MSM DRM driver causes a system crash when freeing imported DMA buffers.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 16 Dec 2025
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2025-68189, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-68189, GHSA-2f2j-g35j-24qp, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-68189

## What is CVE-2025-68189?

CVE-2025-68189 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux, published on 16 Dec 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

drm/msm: Fix GEM free for imported dma-bufs

Imported dma-bufs also have obj->resv != &obj->_resv.  So we should
check both this condition in addition to flags for handling the
_NO_SHARE case.

Fixes this splat that was reported with IRIS video playback:

    ------------[ cut here ]------------
    WARNING: CPU: 3 PID: 2040 at drivers/gpu/drm/msm/msm_gem.c:1127 msm_gem_free_object+0x1f8/0x264 [msm]
    CPU: 3 UID: 1000 PID: 2040 Comm: .gnome-shell-wr Not tainted 6.17.0-rc7 #1 PREEMPT
    pstate: 81400005 (Nzcv daif +PAN -UAO -TCO +DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--)
    pc : msm_gem_free_object+0x1f8/0x264 [msm]
    lr : msm_gem_free_object+0x138/0x264 [msm]
    sp : ffff800092a1bb30
    x29: ffff800092a1bb80 x28: ffff800092a1bce8 x27: ffffbc702dbdbe08
    x26: 0000000000000008 x25: 0000000000000009 x24: 00000000000000a6
    x23: ffff00083c72f850 x22: ffff00083c72f868 x21: ffff00087e69f200
    x20: ffff00087e69f330 x19: ffff00084d157ae0 x18: 0000000000000000
    x17: 0000000000000000 x16: ffffbc704bd46b80 x15: 0000ffffd0959540
    x14: 0000000000000000 x13: 0000000000000000 x12: 0000000000000000
    x11: ffffbc702e6cdb48 x10: 0000000000000000 x9 : 000000000000003f
    x8 : ffff800092a1ba90 x7 : 0000000000000000 x6 : 0000000000000020
    x5 : ffffbc704bd46c40 x4 : fffffdffe102cf60 x3 : 0000000000400032
    x2 : 0000000000020000 x1 : ffff00087e6978e8 x0 : ffff00087e6977e8
    Call trace:
     msm_gem_free_object+0x1f8/0x264 [msm] (P)
     drm_gem_object_free+0x1c/0x30 [drm]
     drm_gem_object_handle_put_unlocked+0x138/0x150 [drm]
     drm_gem_object_release_handle+0x5c/0xcc [drm]
     drm_gem_handle_delete+0x68/0xbc [drm]
     drm_gem_close_ioctl+0x34/0x40 [drm]
     drm_ioctl_kernel+0xc0/0x130 [drm]
     drm_ioctl+0x360/0x4e0 [drm]
     __arm64_sys_ioctl+0xac/0x104
     invoke_syscall+0x48/0x104
     el0_svc_common.constprop.0+0x40/0xe0
     do_el0_svc+0x1c/0x28
     el0_svc+0x34/0xec
     el0t_64_sync_handler+0xa0/0xe4
     el0t_64_sync+0x198/0x19c
    ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---
    ------------[ cut here ]------------

Patchwork: https://patchwork.freedesktop.org/patch/676273/

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-68189?


## How do I fix CVE-2025-68189?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-68189 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-68189 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-68189 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-68189 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux, published on 16 Dec 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-68189 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-68189/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-68189/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-68189
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-68189
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-68189

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-68189/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.