# CVE-2025-68217: Input: pegasus-notetaker - fix potential out-of-bounds access

> A malicious USB device can trigger an out-of-bounds memory access in the Linux kernel pegasus-notetaker driver, potentially leading to code execution or system crash.

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 16 Dec 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2025-68217, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-68217, GHSA-6r4f-cg5f-j3p5, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-68217, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2025-68217, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-68217, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-68217, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-68217

## What is CVE-2025-68217?

CVE-2025-68217 is a memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 16 Dec 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

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

Input: pegasus-notetaker - fix potential out-of-bounds access

In the pegasus_notetaker driver, the pegasus_probe() function allocates
the URB transfer buffer using the wMaxPacketSize value from
the endpoint descriptor. An attacker can use a malicious USB descriptor
to force the allocation of a very small buffer.

Subsequently, if the device sends an interrupt packet with a specific
pattern (e.g., where the first byte is 0x80 or 0x42),
the pegasus_parse_packet() function parses the packet without checking
the allocated buffer size. This leads to an out-of-bounds memory access.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-68217?


## How do I fix CVE-2025-68217?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-68217 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-68217 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-68217 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-68217 is a memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 16 Dec 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-68217 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-2025-68217/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-68217/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-68217
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-68217
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-68217

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-68217/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.