# CVE-2025-68769: f2fs: fix return value of f2fs_recover_fsync_data()

> A local attacker can cause a kernel panic in the Linux f2fs filesystem by mounting a crafted image with specific read-only recovery options.

- **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:** 13 Jan 2026
- **Updated:** 23 May 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-74396, BELL-CVE-2025-68769, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-68769, GHSA-26j2-hmhf-7cc5, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2025-68769, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-68769, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2025-68769, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-68769, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-68769, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-68769

## What is CVE-2025-68769?

CVE-2025-68769 is a denial of service vulnerability in Linux, published on 13 Jan 2026. 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:

f2fs: fix return value of f2fs_recover_fsync_data()

With below scripts, it will trigger panic in f2fs:

mkfs.f2fs -f /dev/vdd
mount /dev/vdd /mnt/f2fs
touch /mnt/f2fs/foo
sync
echo 111 >> /mnt/f2fs/foo
f2fs_io fsync /mnt/f2fs/foo
f2fs_io shutdown 2 /mnt/f2fs
umount /mnt/f2fs
mount -o ro,norecovery /dev/vdd /mnt/f2fs
or
mount -o ro,disable_roll_forward /dev/vdd /mnt/f2fs

F2FS-fs (vdd): f2fs_recover_fsync_data: recovery fsync data, check_only: 0
F2FS-fs (vdd): Mounted with checkpoint version = 7f5c361f
F2FS-fs (vdd): Stopped filesystem due to reason: 0
F2FS-fs (vdd): f2fs_recover_fsync_data: recovery fsync data, check_only: 1
Filesystem f2fs get_tree() didn't set fc->root, returned 1
------------[ cut here ]------------
kernel BUG at fs/super.c:1761!
Oops: invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] SMP PTI
CPU: 3 UID: 0 PID: 722 Comm: mount Not tainted 6.18.0-rc2+ #721 PREEMPT(voluntary)
Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.16.3-debian-1.16.3-2 04/01/2014
RIP: 0010:vfs_get_tree.cold+0x18/0x1a
Call Trace:
 <TASK>
 fc_mount+0x13/0xa0
 path_mount+0x34e/0xc50
 __x64_sys_mount+0x121/0x150
 do_syscall_64+0x84/0x800
 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e
RIP: 0033:0x7fa6cc126cfe

The root cause is we missed to handle error number returned from
f2fs_recover_fsync_data() when mounting image w/ ro,norecovery or
ro,disable_roll_forward mount option, result in returning a positive
error number to vfs_get_tree(), fix it.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-68769?


## How do I fix CVE-2025-68769?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-68769 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-68769 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-68769 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-68769 is a denial of service vulnerability in Linux, published on 13 Jan 2026. 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-2025-68769 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-2025-68769/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-68769/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-68769
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-68769
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-68769

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-68769/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.