CVE-2025-68808 media: vidtv: initialize local pointers upon transfer of memory ownership
A use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel vidtv driver allows attackers to cause denial of service or execute arbitrary code via improper pointer initialization.
- 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
What is CVE-2025-68808?
CVE-2025-68808 is a high-severity 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:
media: vidtv: initialize local pointers upon transfer of memory ownership
vidtv_channel_si_init() creates a temporary list (program, service, event) and ownership of the memory itself is transferred to the PAT/SDT/EIT tables through vidtv_psi_pat_program_assign(), vidtv_psi_sdt_service_assign(), vidtv_psi_eit_event_assign().
The problem here is that the local pointer where the memory ownership transfer was completed is not initialized to NULL. This causes the vidtv_psi_pmt_create_sec_for_each_pat_entry() function to fail, and in the flow that jumps to free_eit, the memory that was freed by vidtv_psi_*_table_destroy() can be accessed again by vidtv_psi_*_event_destroy() due to the uninitialized local pointer, so it is freed once again.
Therefore, to prevent use-after-free and double-free vulnerability, local pointers must be initialized to NULL when transferring memory ownership.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-68808?
How do I fix CVE-2025-68808?
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-2025-68808 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-68808 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2025-68808, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-68808, GHSA-9hm8-83j2-jcqx, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2025-68808, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-68808, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2025-68808 and 3 more.