CVE-2025-68247 posix-timers: Plug potential memory leak in do_timer_create()
A local attacker can trigger a memory leak in the Linux kernel's posix timer creation, potentially leading to resource exhaustion and denial of service.
- 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
What is CVE-2025-68247?
CVE-2025-68247 is a memory corruption 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:
posix-timers: Plug potential memory leak in do_timer_create()
When posix timer creation is set to allocate a given timer ID and the access to the user space value faults, the function terminates without freeing the already allocated posix timer structure.
Move the allocation after the user space access to cure that.
[ tglx: Massaged change log ]
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-68247?
How do I fix CVE-2025-68247?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.
Is CVE-2025-68247 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-68247 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2025-68247, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-68247, GHSA-8v9m-p9fp-7pw5, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-68247.