---
id: CVE-2025-68183
title: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  ima: don't clear IMA_DIGSIG flag when setting or removing non-IMA xattr

  Currently when both IMA and EVM are in fix mode, the IMA signature will
  be reset to IMA hash if…
summary: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  ima: don't clear IMA_DIGSIG flag when setting or removing non-IMA xattr

  Currently when both IMA and EVM are in fix mode, the IMA signature will
  be reset to IMA hash if…
severity: high
cvss: 7.8
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H'
published: '2025-12-16'
updated: '2026-10-14'
sourceUpdated: '2026-10-14T13:10:00.187'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-68183'
references:
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/02aa671c08a4834bef5166743a7b88686fbfa023'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/88b4cbcf6b041ae0f2fc8a34554a5b6a83a2b7cd'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d2993a7e98eb70c737c6f5365a190e79c72b8407'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/edd824eb45e4f7e05ad3ab090dab6dbdb79cd292'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
tags:
  - nvd
epss: 0.00154
epssPercentile: 0.04047
ingestedAt: '2026-10-14T13:30:58.447Z'
---

## Overview

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

ima: don't clear IMA_DIGSIG flag when setting or removing non-IMA xattr

Currently when both IMA and EVM are in fix mode, the IMA signature will
be reset to IMA hash if a program first stores IMA signature in
security.ima and then writes/removes some other security xattr for the
file.

For example, on Fedora, after booting the kernel with "ima_appraise=fix
evm=fix ima_policy=appraise_tcb" and installing rpm-plugin-ima,
installing/reinstalling a package will not make good reference IMA
signature generated. Instead IMA hash is generated,

    # getfattr -m - -d -e hex /usr/bin/bash
    # file: usr/bin/bash
    security.ima=0x0404...

This happens because when setting security.selinux, the IMA_DIGSIG flag
that had been set early was cleared. As a result, IMA hash is generated
when the file is closed.

Similarly, IMA signature can be cleared on file close after removing
security xattr like security.evm or setting/removing ACL.

Prevent replacing the IMA file signature with a file hash, by preventing
the IMA_DIGSIG flag from being reset.

Here's a minimal C reproducer which sets security.selinux as the last
step which can also replaced by removing security.evm or setting ACL,

    #include <stdio.h>
    #include <sys/xattr.h>
    #include <fcntl.h>
    #include <unistd.h>
    #include <string.h>
    #include <stdlib.h>

    int main() {
        const char* file_path = "/usr/sbin/test_binary";
        const char* hex_string = "030204d33204490066306402304";
        int length = strlen(hex_string);
        char* ima_attr_value;
        int fd;

        fd = open(file_path, O_WRONLY|O_CREAT|O_EXCL, 0644);
        if (fd == -1) {
            perror("Error opening file");
            return 1;
        }

        ima_attr_value = (char*)malloc(length / 2 );
        for (int i = 0, j = 0; i < length; i += 2, j++) {
            sscanf(hex_string + i, "%2hhx", &ima_attr_value[j]);
        }

        if (fsetxattr(fd, "security.ima", ima_attr_value, length/2, 0) == -1) {
            perror("Error setting extended attribute");
            close(fd);
            return 1;
        }

        const char* selinux_value= "system_u:object_r:bin_t:s0";
        if (fsetxattr(fd, "security.selinux", selinux_value, strlen(selinux_value), 0) == -1) {
            perror("Error setting extended attribute");
            close(fd);
            return 1;
        }

        close(fd);

        return 0;
    }

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.