# CVE-2025-68810: KVM: Disallow toggling KVM_MEM_GUEST_MEMFD on an existing memslot

> A use-after-free in the Linux kernel KVM module allows local attackers to execute arbitrary code or escalate privileges by toggling memory slot flags.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **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:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2025-68810, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-68810, GHSA-65g7-h87v-v85m, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2025-68810, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-68810, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-68810

## What is CVE-2025-68810?

CVE-2025-68810 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:

KVM: Disallow toggling KVM_MEM_GUEST_MEMFD on an existing memslot

Reject attempts to disable KVM_MEM_GUEST_MEMFD on a memslot that was
initially created with a guest_memfd binding, as KVM doesn't support
toggling KVM_MEM_GUEST_MEMFD on existing memslots.  KVM prevents enabling
KVM_MEM_GUEST_MEMFD, but doesn't prevent clearing the flag.

Failure to reject the new memslot results in a use-after-free due to KVM
not unbinding from the guest_memfd instance.  Unbinding on a FLAGS_ONLY
change is easy enough, and can/will be done as a hardening measure (in
anticipation of KVM supporting dirty logging on guest_memfd at some point),
but fixing the use-after-free would only address the immediate symptom.

  ==================================================================
  BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in kvm_gmem_release+0x362/0x400 [kvm]
  Write of size 8 at addr ffff8881111ae908 by task repro/745

  CPU: 7 UID: 1000 PID: 745 Comm: repro Not tainted 6.18.0-rc6-115d5de2eef3-next-kasan #3 NONE
  Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 0.0.0 02/06/2015
  Call Trace:
   <TASK>
   dump_stack_lvl+0x51/0x60
   print_report+0xcb/0x5c0
   kasan_report+0xb4/0xe0
   kvm_gmem_release+0x362/0x400 [kvm]
   __fput+0x2fa/0x9d0
   task_work_run+0x12c/0x200
   do_exit+0x6ae/0x2100
   do_group_exit+0xa8/0x230
   __x64_sys_exit_group+0x3a/0x50
   x64_sys_call+0x737/0x740
   do_syscall_64+0x5b/0x900
   entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x4b/0x53
  RIP: 0033:0x7f581f2eac31
   </TASK>

  Allocated by task 745 on cpu 6 at 9.746971s:
   kasan_save_stack+0x20/0x40
   kasan_save_track+0x13/0x50
   __kasan_kmalloc+0x77/0x90
   kvm_set_memory_region.part.0+0x652/0x1110 [kvm]
   kvm_vm_ioctl+0x14b0/0x3290 [kvm]
   __x64_sys_ioctl+0x129/0x1a0
   do_syscall_64+0x5b/0x900
   entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x4b/0x53

  Freed by task 745 on cpu 6 at 9.747467s:
   kasan_save_stack+0x20/0x40
   kasan_save_track+0x13/0x50
   __kasan_save_free_info+0x37/0x50
   __kasan_slab_free+0x3b/0x60
   kfree+0xf5/0x440
   kvm_set_memslot+0x3c2/0x1160 [kvm]
   kvm_set_memory_region.part.0+0x86a/0x1110 [kvm]
   kvm_vm_ioctl+0x14b0/0x3290 [kvm]
   __x64_sys_ioctl+0x129/0x1a0
   do_syscall_64+0x5b/0x900
   entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x4b/0x53

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-68810?


## How do I fix CVE-2025-68810?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-68810 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-68810 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-68810 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-68810 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-68810 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-2025-68810/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-68810/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-68810
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-68810
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-68810

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-68810/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.