# CVE-2025-68733: smack: fix bug: unprivileged task can create labels

> An unprivileged local user can escalate privileges by creating arbitrary SMACK labels if relabel-self is enabled, bypassing security restrictions.

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **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:** 24 Dec 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-73165, BELL-CVE-2025-68733, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-68733, GHSA-5mmp-9c8m-j75x, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2025-68733, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-68733, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2025-68733, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-68733, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-68733, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-68733

## What is CVE-2025-68733?

CVE-2025-68733 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 24 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:

smack: fix bug: unprivileged task can create labels

If an unprivileged task is allowed to relabel itself
(/smack/relabel-self is not empty),
it can freely create new labels by writing their
names into own /proc/PID/attr/smack/current

This occurs because do_setattr() imports
the provided label in advance,
before checking "relabel-self" list.

This change ensures that the "relabel-self" list
is checked before importing the label.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-68733?


## How do I fix CVE-2025-68733?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-68733 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-68733 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-68733 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-68733 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 24 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-2025-68733 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-2025-68733/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-68733/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-68733
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-68733
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-68733

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-68733/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.