CVE-2025-38220 (GCVE-0-2025-38220)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2025-07-04 13:37 – Updated: 2025-07-28 04:15
VLAI?
Title
ext4: only dirty folios when data journaling regular files
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: only dirty folios when data journaling regular files fstest generic/388 occasionally reproduces a crash that looks as follows: BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000 ... Call Trace: <TASK> ext4_block_zero_page_range+0x30c/0x380 [ext4] ext4_truncate+0x436/0x440 [ext4] ext4_process_orphan+0x5d/0x110 [ext4] ext4_orphan_cleanup+0x124/0x4f0 [ext4] ext4_fill_super+0x262d/0x3110 [ext4] get_tree_bdev_flags+0x132/0x1d0 vfs_get_tree+0x26/0xd0 vfs_cmd_create+0x59/0xe0 __do_sys_fsconfig+0x4ed/0x6b0 do_syscall_64+0x82/0x170 ... This occurs when processing a symlink inode from the orphan list. The partial block zeroing code in the truncate path calls ext4_dirty_journalled_data() -> folio_mark_dirty(). The latter calls mapping->a_ops->dirty_folio(), but symlink inodes are not assigned an a_ops vector in ext4, hence the crash. To avoid this problem, update the ext4_dirty_journalled_data() helper to only mark the folio dirty on regular files (for which a_ops is assigned). This also matches the journaling logic in the ext4_symlink() creation path, where ext4_handle_dirty_metadata() is called directly.
Severity ?
No CVSS data available.
Assigner
References
Impacted products
Vendor Product Version
Linux Linux Affected: d84c9ebdac1e39bc7b036c0c829ee8c1956edabc , < cf6a4c4ac7b6e3214f25df594c9689a62f1bb456 (git)
Affected: d84c9ebdac1e39bc7b036c0c829ee8c1956edabc , < be5f3061a6f904e3674257879e71881ceee5b673 (git)
Affected: d84c9ebdac1e39bc7b036c0c829ee8c1956edabc , < d7af6eee8cd60f55aa8c5fe2b91f11ec0c9a0f27 (git)
Affected: d84c9ebdac1e39bc7b036c0c829ee8c1956edabc , < e26268ff1dcae5662c1b96c35f18cfa6ab73d9de (git)
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    Linux Linux Affected: 6.4
Unaffected: 0 , < 6.4 (semver)
Unaffected: 6.6.95 , ≤ 6.6.* (semver)
Unaffected: 6.12.35 , ≤ 6.12.* (semver)
Unaffected: 6.15.4 , ≤ 6.15.* (semver)
Unaffected: 6.16 , ≤ * (original_commit_for_fix)
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{
  "containers": {
    "cna": {
      "affected": [
        {
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "product": "Linux",
          "programFiles": [
            "fs/ext4/inode.c"
          ],
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          "vendor": "Linux",
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              "versionType": "semver"
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              "versionType": "semver"
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              "status": "unaffected",
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              "versionType": "original_commit_for_fix"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "cpeApplicability": [
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          "nodes": [
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              "cpeMatch": [
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                  "versionEndExcluding": "6.6.95",
                  "versionStartIncluding": "6.4",
                  "vulnerable": true
                },
                {
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                  "versionEndExcluding": "6.12.35",
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                  "vulnerable": true
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              "negate": false,
              "operator": "OR"
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        }
      ],
      "descriptions": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\next4: only dirty folios when data journaling regular files\n\nfstest generic/388 occasionally reproduces a crash that looks as\nfollows:\n\nBUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000\n...\nCall Trace:\n \u003cTASK\u003e\n ext4_block_zero_page_range+0x30c/0x380 [ext4]\n ext4_truncate+0x436/0x440 [ext4]\n ext4_process_orphan+0x5d/0x110 [ext4]\n ext4_orphan_cleanup+0x124/0x4f0 [ext4]\n ext4_fill_super+0x262d/0x3110 [ext4]\n get_tree_bdev_flags+0x132/0x1d0\n vfs_get_tree+0x26/0xd0\n vfs_cmd_create+0x59/0xe0\n __do_sys_fsconfig+0x4ed/0x6b0\n do_syscall_64+0x82/0x170\n ...\n\nThis occurs when processing a symlink inode from the orphan list. The\npartial block zeroing code in the truncate path calls\next4_dirty_journalled_data() -\u003e folio_mark_dirty(). The latter calls\nmapping-\u003ea_ops-\u003edirty_folio(), but symlink inodes are not assigned an\na_ops vector in ext4, hence the crash.\n\nTo avoid this problem, update the ext4_dirty_journalled_data() helper to\nonly mark the folio dirty on regular files (for which a_ops is\nassigned). This also matches the journaling logic in the ext4_symlink()\ncreation path, where ext4_handle_dirty_metadata() is called directly."
        }
      ],
      "providerMetadata": {
        "dateUpdated": "2025-07-28T04:15:30.950Z",
        "orgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
        "shortName": "Linux"
      },
      "references": [
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cf6a4c4ac7b6e3214f25df594c9689a62f1bb456"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/be5f3061a6f904e3674257879e71881ceee5b673"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d7af6eee8cd60f55aa8c5fe2b91f11ec0c9a0f27"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e26268ff1dcae5662c1b96c35f18cfa6ab73d9de"
        }
      ],
      "title": "ext4: only dirty folios when data journaling regular files",
      "x_generator": {
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      }
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  },
  "cveMetadata": {
    "assignerOrgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
    "assignerShortName": "Linux",
    "cveId": "CVE-2025-38220",
    "datePublished": "2025-07-04T13:37:36.612Z",
    "dateReserved": "2025-04-16T04:51:23.995Z",
    "dateUpdated": "2025-07-28T04:15:30.950Z",
    "state": "PUBLISHED"
  },
  "dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
  "dataVersion": "5.1"
}


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