CVE-2025-68297 ceph: fix crash in process_v2_sparse_read() for encrypted directories
A local attacker can trigger a kernel crash in the Ceph filesystem driver when reading encrypted directories, causing a denial of service.
- 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-2025-68297?
CVE-2025-68297 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:
ceph: fix crash in process_v2_sparse_read() for encrypted directories
The crash in process_v2_sparse_read() for fscrypt-encrypted directories has been reported. Issue takes place for Ceph msgr2 protocol in secure mode. It can be reproduced by the steps:
sudo mount -t ceph :/ /mnt/cephfs/ -o name=admin,fs=cephfs,ms_mode=secure
(1) mkdir /mnt/cephfs/fscrypt-test-3 (2) cp area_decrypted.tar /mnt/cephfs/fscrypt-test-3 (3) fscrypt encrypt --source=raw_key --key=./my.key /mnt/cephfs/fscrypt-test-3 (4) fscrypt lock /mnt/cephfs/fscrypt-test-3 (5) fscrypt unlock --key=my.key /mnt/cephfs/fscrypt-test-3 (6) cat /mnt/cephfs/fscrypt-test-3/area_decrypted.tar (7) Issue has been triggered
[ 408.072247] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 408.072251] WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 392 at net/ceph/messenger_v2.c:865 ceph_con_v2_try_read+0x4b39/0x72f0 [ 408.072267] Modules linked in: intel_rapl_msr intel_rapl_common intel_uncore_frequency_common intel_pmc_core pmt_telemetry pmt_discovery pmt_class intel_pmc_ssram_telemetry intel_vsec kvm_intel joydev kvm irqbypass polyval_clmulni ghash_clmulni_intel aesni_intel rapl input_leds psmouse serio_raw i2c_piix4 vga16fb bochs vgastate i2c_smbus floppy mac_hid qemu_fw_cfg pata_acpi sch_fq_codel rbd msr parport_pc ppdev lp parport efi_pstore [ 408.072304] CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 392 Comm: kworker/1:3 Not tainted 6.17.0-rc7+ [ 408.072307] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.17.0-5.fc42 04/01/2014 [ 408.072310] Workqueue: ceph-msgr ceph_con_workfn [ 408.072314] RIP: 0010:ceph_con_v2_try_read+0x4b39/0x72f0 [ 408.072317] Code: c7 c1 20 f0 d4 ae 50 31 d2 48 c7 c6 60 27 d5 ae 48 c7 c7 f8 8e 6f b0 68 60 38 d5 ae e8 00 47 61 fe 48 83 c4 18 e9 ac fc ff ff <0f> 0b e9 06 fe ff ff 4c 8b 9d 98 fd ff ff 0f 84 64 e7 ff ff 89 85 [ 408.072319] RSP: 0018:ffff88811c3e7a30 EFLAGS: 00010246 [ 408.072322] RAX: ffffed1024874c6f RBX: ffffea00042c2b40 RCX: 0000000000000f38 [ 408.072324] RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: 0000000000000000 [ 408.072325] RBP: ffff88811c3e7ca8 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 00000000000000c8 [ 408.072326] R10: 00000000000000c8 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: 00000000000000c8 [ 408.072327] R13: dffffc0000000000 R14: ffff8881243a6030 R15: 0000000000003000 [ 408.072329] FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff88823eadf000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [ 408.072331] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [ 408.072332] CR2: 000000c0003c6000 CR3: 000000010c106005 CR4: 0000000000772ef0 [ 408.072336] PKRU: 55555554 [ 408.072337] Call Trace: [ 408.072338] <TASK> [ 408.072340] ? sched_clock_noinstr+0x9/0x10 [ 408.072344] ? __pfx_ceph_con_v2_try_read+0x10/0x10 [ 408.072347] ? _raw_spin_unlock+0xe/0x40 [ 408.072349] ? finish_task_switch.isra.0+0x15d/0x830 [ 408.072353] ? __kasan_check_write+0x14/0x30 [ 408.072357] ? mutex_lock+0x84/0xe0 [ 408.072359] ? __pfx_mutex_lock+0x10/0x10 [ 408.072361] ceph_con_workfn+0x27e/0x10e0 [ 408.072364] ? metric_delayed_work+0x311/0x2c50 [ 408.072367] process_one_work+0x611/0xe20 [ 408.072371] ? __kasan_check_write+0x14/0x30 [ 408.072373] worker_thread+0x7e3/0x1580 [ 408.072375] ? __pfx__raw_spin_lock_irqsave+0x10/0x10 [ 408.072378] ? __pfx_worker_thread+0x10/0x10 [ 408.072381] kthread+0x381/0x7a0 [ 408.072383] ? __pfx__raw_spin_lock_irq+0x10/0x10 [ 408.072385] ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10 [ 408.072387] ? __kasan_check_write+0x14/0x30 [ 408.072389] ? recalc_sigpending+0x160/0x220 [ 408.072392] ? _raw_spin_unlock_irq+0xe/0x50 [ 408.072394] ? calculate_sigpending+0x78/0xb0 [ 408.072395] ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10 [ 408.072397] ret_from_fork+0x2b6/0x380 [ 408.072400] ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10 [ 408.072402] ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 [ 408.072406] </TASK> [ 408.072407] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- [ 408.072418] Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc00000000 ---truncated---
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-68297?
How do I fix CVE-2025-68297?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2025-68297 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-68297 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2025-68297, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-68297, GHSA-xqfj-57hg-6v8m, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2025-68297, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-68297, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-68297 and 1 more.