CVE-2025-68768

Canonical Ubuntu Linux: denial of service

Risk score: 41/100
CVSS: Not Scored
Exploit chance (30 days): 0.2%
Published: 13 Jan 2026

Open in the live forecast Today's forecast

What to know

What it is: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: inet: frags: flush pending skbs in fqdir_pre_exit() We have been seeing occasional deadlocks on pernet_ops_rwsem since September in NIPA. The stuck task was usually modprobe (often loading a driver like ipvlan), trying to take the lock as a Writer. lo…
Affected: Canonical Ubuntu Linux
Fix: Apply the vendor's security update; see the linked advisory.
Exploitation: No known exploitation

Story map

Story map: the flaws, the fix, how it unfolded and what it connects to. Boxes link to the record or article.

At a glance

Canonical Ubuntu Linux: Red, act today. A vulnerability exists in NGINX Plus and NGINX Open Source when a map directive uses regex matching and the root directive or access log format references the map's regex capture variables before referencing the map output variable. An unauthenticated attacker can exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted HTTP requests, causing a heap buffer overflow in the NGINX worker process leading to a restart, or potential…

The flaws

CVE-2025-68768: Denial of service (EPSS 0%)
CVE-2026-93479: Heap buffer overflow can lead to remote code execution (CVSS 8.1 · EPSS 1%)
CVE-2026-15176: Heap buffer overflow can lead to remote code execution (CVSS 8.1 · EPSS 1%)
CVE-2026-97205: NGINX Plus and NGINX Open Source have a vulnerability in the ngx_http_core_module module (CVSS 8.1 · EPSS 1%)

The fix

Fix: Check the linked advisory for the concrete fix.

Who is exposed: {'products': ['NGINX Plus', 'NGINX Open Source'], 'packages': [], 'versions': []}

Where it stands

No known exploitation

How it unfolded

26 Oct, Ubuntu security notices (official): USN-8955-1: nginx vulnerabilities
5 Nov, Ubuntu security notices (official): USN-8955-2: nginx vulnerabilities
6 Nov, Ubuntu security notices (official): USN-9002-1: Linux kernel (NVIDIA Tegra) vulnerabilities

Connects to

Same weakness: Heap buffer overflow (CWE-122). 398 other warnings in 30 days
Same product: Earlier Canonical Ubuntu Linux warnings. 147 in the last 90 days

Why it is Yellow

Not yet scored by NVD
On your watchlist: linux kernel
Named in a government or vendor bulletin

Government and vendor bulletins

USN-9002-1: Linux kernel (NVIDIA Tegra) vulnerabilities

References

Original description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: inet: frags: flush pending skbs in fqdir_pre_exit() We have been seeing occasional deadlocks on pernet_ops_rwsem since September in NIPA. The stuck task was usually modprobe (often loading a driver like ipvlan), trying to take the lock as a Writer. lockdep does not track readers for rwsems so the read wasn't obvious from the reports. On closer inspection the Reader holding the lock was conntrack looping forever in nf_conntrack_cleanup_net_list(). Based on past experience with occasional NIPA crashes I looked thru the tests which run before the crash and noticed that the crash follows ip_defrag.sh. An immediate red flag. Scouring thru (de)fragmentation queues reveals skbs sitting around, holding conntrack references. The problem is that since conntrack depends on nf_defrag_ipv6, nf_defrag_ipv6 will load first. Since nf_defrag_ipv6 loads first its netns exit hooks run _after_ conntrack's netns exit hook. Flush all fragment queue SKBs during fqdir_pre_exit() to release conntrack references before conntrack cleanup runs. Also flush the queues in timer expiry handlers when they discover fqdir->dead is set, in case packet sneaks in while we're running the pre_exit flush. The commit under Fixes is not exactly the culprit, but I think previously the timer firing would eventually unblock the spinning conntrack.

Last activity 6 Nov 2026. Patch Forecast updates every hour.