CVE-2025-68781 usb: phy: fsl-usb: Fix use-after-free in delayed work during device removal
A use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel's fsl-usb PHY driver allows local attackers to cause a system crash or potentially execute code during device removal.
- 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-2025-68781?
CVE-2025-68781 is an use after free 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:
usb: phy: fsl-usb: Fix use-after-free in delayed work during device removal
The delayed work item otg_event is initialized in fsl_otg_conf() and scheduled under two conditions: 1. When a host controller binds to the OTG controller. 2. When the USB ID pin state changes (cable insertion/removal).
A race condition occurs when the device is removed via fsl_otg_remove(): the fsl_otg instance may be freed while the delayed work is still pending or executing. This leads to use-after-free when the work function fsl_otg_event() accesses the already freed memory.
The problematic scenario:
(detach thread) | (delayed work) fsl_otg_remove() | kfree(fsl_otg_dev) //FREE| fsl_otg_event() | og = container_of(...) //USE | og-> //USE
Fix this by calling disable_delayed_work_sync() in fsl_otg_remove() before deallocating the fsl_otg structure. This ensures the delayed work is properly canceled and completes execution prior to memory deallocation.
This bug was identified through static analysis.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-68781?
How do I fix CVE-2025-68781?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. These bugs are found with fuzzing and sanitisers and avoided by memory-safe languages. More about Use after free.
Is CVE-2025-68781 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-68781 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2025-68781, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-68781, GHSA-6gqm-wpjm-6gh5, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2025-68781, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-68781, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2025-68781 and 3 more.