CVE-2025-38578

  • Published: 2025-08-19T17:15:34.870

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

f2fs: fix to avoid UAF in f2fs_sync_inode_meta()

syzbot reported an UAF issue as below: [1] [2]

[1] https://syzkaller.appspot.com/text?tag=CrashReport&x=16594c60580000

==================================================================
BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in __list_del_entry_valid+0xa6/0x130 lib/list_debug.c:62
Read of size 8 at addr ffff888100567dc8 by task kworker/u4:0/8

CPU: 1 PID: 8 Comm: kworker/u4:0 Tainted: G W 6.1.129-syzkaller-00017-g642656a36791 #0
Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 02/12/2025
Workqueue: writeback wb_workfn (flush-7:0)
Call Trace:

__dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:88 [inline]
dump_stack_lvl+0x151/0x1b7 lib/dump_stack.c:106
print_address_description mm/kasan/report.c:316 [inline]
print_report+0x158/0x4e0 mm/kasan/report.c:427
kasan_report+0x13c/0x170 mm/kasan/report.c:531
__asan_report_load8_noabort+0x14/0x20 mm/kasan/report_generic.c:351
__list_del_entry_valid+0xa6/0x130 lib/list_debug.c:62
__list_del_entry include/linux/list.h:134 [inline]
list_del_init include/linux/list.h:206 [inline]
f2fs_inode_synced+0x100/0x2e0 fs/f2fs/super.c:1553
f2fs_update_inode+0x72/0x1c40 fs/f2fs/inode.c:588
f2fs_update_inode_page+0x135/0x170 fs/f2fs/inode.c:706
f2fs_write_inode+0x416/0x790 fs/f2fs/inode.c:734
write_inode fs/fs-writeback.c:1460 [inline]
__writeback_single_inode+0x4cf/0xb80 fs/fs-writeback.c:1677
writeback_sb_inodes+0xb32/0x1910 fs/fs-writeback.c:1903
__writeback_inodes_wb+0x118/0x3f0 fs/fs-writeback.c:1974
wb_writeback+0x3da/0xa00 fs/fs-writeback.c:2081
wb_check_background_flush fs/fs-writeback.c:2151 [inline]
wb_do_writeback fs/fs-writeback.c:2239 [inline]
wb_workfn+0xbba/0x1030 fs/fs-writeback.c:2266
process_one_work+0x73d/0xcb0 kernel/workqueue.c:2299
worker_thread+0xa60/0x1260 kernel/workqueue.c:2446
kthread+0x26d/0x300 kernel/kthread.c:386
ret_from_fork+0x1f/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:295

Allocated by task 298:
kasan_save_stack mm/kasan/common.c:45 [inline]
kasan_set_track+0x4b/0x70 mm/kasan/common.c:52
kasan_save_alloc_info+0x1f/0x30 mm/kasan/generic.c:505
__kasan_slab_alloc+0x6c/0x80 mm/kasan/common.c:333
kasan_slab_alloc include/linux/kasan.h:202 [inline]
slab_post_alloc_hook+0x53/0x2c0 mm/slab.h:768
slab_alloc_node mm/slub.c:3421 [inline]
slab_alloc mm/slub.c:3431 [inline]
__kmem_cache_alloc_lru mm/slub.c:3438 [inline]
kmem_cache_alloc_lru+0x102/0x270 mm/slub.c:3454
alloc_inode_sb include/linux/fs.h:3255 [inline]
f2fs_alloc_inode+0x2d/0x350 fs/f2fs/super.c:1437
alloc_inode fs/inode.c:261 [inline]
iget_locked+0x18c/0x7e0 fs/inode.c:1373
f2fs_iget+0x55/0x4ca0 fs/f2fs/inode.c:486
f2fs_lookup+0x3c1/0xb50 fs/f2fs/namei.c:484
__lookup_slow+0x2b9/0x3e0 fs/namei.c:1689
lookup_slow+0x5a/0x80 fs/namei.c:1706
walk_component+0x2e7/0x410 fs/namei.c:1997
lookup_last fs/namei.c:2454 [inline]
path_lookupat+0x16d/0x450 fs/namei.c:2478
filename_lookup+0x251/0x600 fs/namei.c:2507
vfs_statx+0x107/0x4b0 fs/stat.c:229
vfs_fstatat fs/stat.c:267 [inline]
vfs_lstat include/linux/fs.h:3434 [inline]
__do_sys_newlstat fs/stat.c:423 [inline]
__se_sys_newlstat+0xda/0x7c0 fs/stat.c:417
__x64_sys_newlstat+0x5b/0x70 fs/stat.c:417
x64_sys_call+0x52/0x9a0 arch/x86/include/generated/asm/syscalls_64.h:7
do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:51 [inline]
do_syscall_64+0x3b/0x80 arch/x86/entry/common.c:81
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x68/0xd2

Freed by task 0:
kasan_save_stack mm/kasan/common.c:45 [inline]
kasan_set_track+0x4b/0x70 mm/kasan/common.c:52
kasan_save_free_info+0x2b/0x40 mm/kasan/generic.c:516
____kasan_slab_free+0x131/0x180 mm/kasan/common.c:241
__kasan_slab_free+0x11/0x20 mm/kasan/common.c:249
kasan_slab_free include/linux/kasan.h:178 [inline]
slab_free_hook mm/slub.c:1745 [inline]
slab_free_freelist_hook mm/slub.c:1771 [inline]
slab_free mm/slub.c:3686 [inline]
kmem_cache_free+0x
—truncated—

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How to fix CVE-2025-38578

CVE-2025-38578 is a unknown severity vulnerability affecting the affected product.

Description: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: f2fs: fix to avoid UAF in f2fs_sync_inode_meta() syzbot reported an UAF issue as below: [1] [2] [1] https://syzkaller.appspot.com/text?tag=CrashReport&x=16594c60580000 ================================================================== BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in __list_del_entry_valid+0xa6/0x130 lib/list_debug.c:62 Read of size 8 at addr ffff888100567dc8 by task kworker/u4:0/8 CPU: 1 PID: 8 Comm: kworker/u4:0 Tainted: G W 6.1.129-syzkaller-00017-g642656a36791 […]

Exploit Difficulty: HARD
⏱️ Time to exploit: > 4 hours
🛠️ Required skills: Advanced security expertise
💰 Public exploits: Rare or not public

How to Fix:

1 Identify affected systems

- Check if you're running the affected product

2 Immediate actions

- Update to the latest patched version
- If patching is not immediately possible: restrict network exposure, apply least-privilege access

3 Verification

- Test the fix in a staging environment first
- Review logs for signs of exploitation
- Monitor for IOCs (Indicators of Compromise)

4 Long-term prevention

- Enable automatic security updates
- Set up vulnerability monitoring
- Review and harden security configurations

Vendor Advisory: https://syzkaller.appspot.com/text?tag=CrashReport&x=16594c60580000

Exploit Difficulty Assessment

HARD
⏱️ Time to Exploit: > 4 hours
🛠️ Skills Required: Advanced security expertise
💰 Public Exploits: Rare or not public

Vulnerability Timeline

Aug 19, 2025
Vulnerability Published

CVE details first published to NVD database

Nov 12, 2025
Imported to Database

Added to this CVE tracking system

Detection Rules & IOCs

No specific detection rules generated for this vulnerability type.

No vendor/product data available.