# CVE-2025-68212: fs: Fix uninitialized 'offp' in statmount_string()

> A local attacker can cause a kernel crash by triggering an uninitialized pointer dereference in the statmount_string function.

- **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-2025-68212, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-68212, GHSA-qh7q-6f85-cjv9, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-68212, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-68212

## What is CVE-2025-68212?

CVE-2025-68212 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:

fs: Fix uninitialized 'offp' in statmount_string()

In statmount_string(), most flags assign an output offset pointer (offp)
which is later updated with the string offset. However, the
STATMOUNT_MNT_UIDMAP and STATMOUNT_MNT_GIDMAP cases directly set the
struct fields instead of using offp. This leaves offp uninitialized,
leading to a possible uninitialized dereference when *offp is updated.

Fix it by assigning offp for UIDMAP and GIDMAP as well, keeping the code
path consistent.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-68212?


## How do I fix CVE-2025-68212?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-68212 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-68212 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-68212 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-68212 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-2025-68212 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-2025-68212/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-68212/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-68212
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-68212
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-68212

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-68212/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.