CVE-2025-68821

What it is

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: fuse: fix readahead reclaim deadlock Commit e26ee4efbc79 ("fuse: allocate ff->release_args only if release is needed") skips allocating ff->release_args if the server does not implement open. However in doing so, fuse_prepare_release() now skips grabbing the reference on the inode, which makes it possible for an inode to be evicted from the dcache while there are inflight readahead requests. This causes a deadlock if the server triggers reclaim while servicing the readahead request and reclaim attempts to evict the inode of the file being read ahead. Since the folio is locked during readahead, when reclaim evicts the fuse inode and fuse_evict_inode() attempts to remove all folios associated with the inode from the page cache (truncate_inode_pages_range()), reclaim will block forever waiting for the lock since readahead cannot relinquish the lock because it is itself blocked in reclaim: >>> stack_trace(1504735) folio_wait_bit_common (mm/filemap.c:1308:4) folio_lock (./include/linux/pagemap.h:1052:3) truncate_inode_pages_range (mm/truncate.c:336:10) fuse_evict_inode (fs/fuse/inode.c:161:2) evict (fs/inode.c:704:3) dentry_unlink_inode (fs/dcache.c:412:3) __dentry_kill (fs/dcache.c:615:3) shrink_kill (fs/dcache.c:1060:12) shrink_dentry_list (fs/dcache.c:1087:3) prune_dcache_sb (fs/dcache.c:1168:2) super_cache_scan (fs/super.c:221:10) do_shrink_slab (mm/shrinker.c:435:9) shrink_slab (mm/shrinker.c:626:10) shrink_node (mm/vmscan.c:5951:2) shrink_zones (mm/vmscan.c:6195:3) do_try_to_free_pages (mm/vmscan.c:6257:3) do_swap_page (mm/memory.c:4136:11) handle_pte_fault (mm/memory.c:5562:10) handle_mm_fault (mm/memory.c:5870:9) do_user_addr_fault (arch/x86/mm/fault.c:1338:10) handle_page_fault (arch/x86/mm/fault.c:1481:3) exc_page_fault (arch/x86/mm/fault.c:1539:2) asm_exc_page_fault+0x22/0x27 Fix this deadlock by allocating ff->release_args and grabbing the reference on the inode when preparing the file for release even if the server does not implement open. The inode reference will be dropped when the last reference on the fuse file is dropped (see fuse_file_put() -> fuse_release_end()).

At a glance

Exploit odds

0.2% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days (EPSS).

Fix

No patch or advisory is linked yet. Look at mitigations or restrict exposure.

Timeline

1. 2026-01-13 16:16 UTC PublishedDisclosed publicly on CVE.org and NVD
2. 2026-06-17 09:59 UTC Last updatedMost recent change to the record

Why it ranks here

• Exploited in the wild: no, CISA does not list it.
• Exploit odds: 0.2% in the next 30 days (EPSS).
• Severity: not scored yet.
• Fix: none linked yet, which raises it.

Details

Published

2026-01-13 16:16 UTC

Last modified

2026-06-17 09:59 UTC

Exploit probability

0.2% · EPSS, next 30 days

Record status

Deferred

Is it in your code?

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