In Blender 4.2.0/4.2.1, when using a geo nodes tree from the Asset Browser for the second time as modifier on a given object, selecting the node tree from its original location (usually inside a group of the Asset Browser), Blender makes a copy of that node tree instead of referencing the original node tree (as this was the case in Blender 4.1). This is a rather strange change, and it has various implications.
After the original node tree has been assigned as a modifier to an object once,it also appears in the Unassigned group of the Asset Browser. When adding the same modifier to the object a second time, if we select it from the original group, then a copy will be made as mentioned above, however if we select it from the Unassigned group, a reference on the original node tree will be used, incrementing its reference count (same behavior as in 4.1).
The new copy behavior seems to also be broken relatively to Drivers, which are properly copied but are not functional anymore.
If anyone is aware of these changes, please let us know where they are documented and the commits involved. I haven't found any reference so far.