CVE-2025-68249 most: usb: hdm_probe: Fix calling put_device() before device initialization
A local attacker with physical access can cause a kernel crash by triggering an error path in the MOST USB driver that calls put_device on an uninitialized object.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2025-68249?
CVE-2025-68249 is a 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:
most: usb: hdm_probe: Fix calling put_device() before device initialization
The early error path in hdm_probe() can jump to err_free_mdev before &mdev->dev has been initialized with device_initialize(). Calling put_device(&mdev->dev) there triggers a device core WARN and ends up invoking kref_put(&kobj->kref, kobject_release) on an uninitialized kobject.
In this path the private struct was only kmalloc'ed and the intended release is effectively kfree(mdev) anyway, so free it directly instead of calling put_device() on an uninitialized device.
This removes the WARNING and fixes the pre-initialization error path.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-68249?
How do I fix CVE-2025-68249?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2025-68249 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-68249 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2025-68249, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-68249, GHSA-wpmx-q548-j5gm, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-68249, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-68249.