CVE-2025-68816 (GCVE-0-2025-68816)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2026-01-13 15:29 – Updated: 2026-01-13 15:29
VLAI?
Title
net/mlx5: fw_tracer, Validate format string parameters
Summary
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.
Severity ?
No CVSS data available.
Assigner
References
Impacted products
Vendor Product Version
Linux Linux Affected: 70dd6fdb8987b14f7b6105f6be0617299e459398 , < 38ac688b52ef26a88f8bc4fe26d24fdd0ff91e5d (git)
Affected: 70dd6fdb8987b14f7b6105f6be0617299e459398 , < 8ac688c0e430dab19f6a9b70df94b1f635612c1a (git)
Affected: 70dd6fdb8987b14f7b6105f6be0617299e459398 , < 45bd283b1d69e2c97cddcb9956f0e0261fc4efd7 (git)
Affected: 70dd6fdb8987b14f7b6105f6be0617299e459398 , < 8c35c2448086870509ede43947845be0833251f0 (git)
Affected: 70dd6fdb8987b14f7b6105f6be0617299e459398 , < b35966042d20b14e2d83330049f77deec5229749 (git)
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    Linux Linux Affected: 4.19
Unaffected: 0 , < 4.19 (semver)
Unaffected: 6.1.160 , ≤ 6.1.* (semver)
Unaffected: 6.6.120 , ≤ 6.6.* (semver)
Unaffected: 6.12.64 , ≤ 6.12.* (semver)
Unaffected: 6.18.3 , ≤ 6.18.* (semver)
Unaffected: 6.19-rc2 , ≤ * (original_commit_for_fix)
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{
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          "programFiles": [
            "drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/diag/fw_tracer.c",
            "drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/diag/fw_tracer.h"
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              "status": "unaffected",
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          "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nnet/mlx5: fw_tracer, Validate format string parameters\n\nAdd validation for format string parameters in the firmware tracer to\nprevent potential security vulnerabilities and crashes from malformed\nformat strings received from firmware.\n\nThe firmware tracer receives format strings from the device firmware and\nuses them to format trace messages. Without proper validation, bad\nfirmware could provide format strings with invalid format specifiers\n(e.g., %s, %p, %n) that could lead to crashes, or other undefined\nbehavior.\n\nAdd mlx5_tracer_validate_params() to validate that all format specifiers\nin trace strings are limited to safe integer/hex formats (%x, %d, %i,\n%u, %llx, %lx, etc.). Reject strings containing other format types that\ncould be used to access arbitrary memory or cause crashes.\nInvalid format strings are added to the trace output for visibility with\n\"BAD_FORMAT: \" prefix."
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        "dateUpdated": "2026-01-13T15:29:20.464Z",
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    "datePublished": "2026-01-13T15:29:20.464Z",
    "dateReserved": "2025-12-24T10:30:51.047Z",
    "dateUpdated": "2026-01-13T15:29:20.464Z",
    "state": "PUBLISHED"
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  }
}


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