CVE Catalog

CVE-2025-68816

Low risk· EPSS 7%
Published: Updated: Translated: NVD NIST

Exploitation Probability (EPSS)

Low risk
0.17%

7th percentile - higher than 7% of all known CVEs

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the MLX5 driver (fw_tracer) lacked validation of format string parameters. Invalid format specifiers (%s, %p, %n) from firmware could cause crashes or undefined behavior.

Risk Assessment

The organization is at risk of system crashes or uncontrolled kernel behavior due to processing malicious or malformed format strings from the network card firmware.

Recommendation

Immediately update the Linux kernel to a version containing the fix that validates format parameters in the MLX5 driver's fw_tracer.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

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Original NVD description (English source)

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/mlx5: fw_tracer, Validate format string parameters Add validation for format string parameters in the firmware tracer to prevent potential security vulnerabilities and crashes from malformed format strings received from firmware. The firmware tracer receives format strings from the device firmware and uses them to format trace messages. Without proper validation, bad firmware could provide format strings with invalid format specifiers (e.g., %s, %p, %n) that could lead to crashes, or other undefined behavior. Add mlx5_tracer_validate_params() to validate that all format specifiers in trace strings are limited to safe integer/hex formats (%x, %d, %i, %u, %llx, %lx, etc.). Reject strings containing other format types that could be used to access arbitrary memory or cause crashes. Invalid format strings are added to the trace output for visibility with "BAD_FORMAT: " prefix.

Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS