CyberSecBulletin
CVE-2025-38221NVD status: Analyzed

Linux: Out-of-bounds Read

Published Updated By the CyberSecBulletin desk

CVE-2025-38221 is a high-severity out-of-bounds read vulnerability in Linux, with a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.1 out of 10. It can be exploited with local access to the system by an attacker with a low-privileged account, without any action from a user. The record lists versions a4d60ba277ecd8a98c5a593cbc0ef2237c20a541, 28b62cb58fd014338f5004170f2e3a35bf0af238, b5e58bcd79625423487fa3ecba8e8411b5396327 as the first without the flaw, so updating Linux to one of those releases or later removes the exposure. There is no confirmed exploitation so far. EPSS estimates a 0.17% chance of exploitation within 30 days, which is low compared with other CVEs.

Next patch cycle

High severity with no evidence of exploitation so far.

What to do

  1. Update Linux to a4d60ba277ecd8a98c5a593cbc0ef2237c20a541 or 28b62cb58fd014338f5004170f2e3a35bf0af238 or b5e58bcd79625423487fa3ecba8e8411b5396327, whichever matches your release line, or a later version.
  2. Update Linux Kernel to 6.15.4 or a later version.

Affected products and versions

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed in
LinuxLinux33f61ecabb10098b63dad3b729552779379f900d up to, but not including, a4d60ba277ecd8a98c5a593cbc0ef2237c20a541; 982bf37da09d078570650b691d9084f43805a5de up to, but not including, 28b62cb58fd014338f5004170f2e3a35bf0af238; 982bf37da09d078570650b691d9084f43805a5de up to, but not including, b5e58bcd79625423487fa3ecba8e8411b5396327; 6.15a4d60ba277ecd8a98c5a593cbc0ef2237c20a541, 28b62cb58fd014338f5004170f2e3a35bf0af238, b5e58bcd79625423487fa3ecba8e8411b5396327
LinuxLinux Kernel6.15 up to, but not including, 6.15.46.15.4

Version data comes from the organisation that assigned the CVE. Confirm against the vendor advisory before deciding you are unaffected.

How the severity score breaks down

Attack vector
LocalThe attacker needs local access or must trick a user into running something.
Attack complexity
LowNo special conditions are needed; the attack works reliably.
Privileges required
LowA basic user account is enough.
User interaction
NoneNo action by a victim is required.
Scope
UnchangedImpact stays within the vulnerable component.
Confidentiality
HighAll data handled by the component can be read.
Integrity
NoneNothing can be modified.
Availability
HighThe component can be taken down completely.

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H. Scored by NVD.

Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: fix out of bounds punch offset Punching a hole with a start offset that exceeds max_end is not permitted and will result in a negative length in the truncate_inode_partial_folio() function while truncating the page cache, potentially leading to undesirable consequences. A simple reproducer: truncate -s 9895604649994 /mnt/foo xfs_io -c "pwrite 8796093022208 4096" /mnt/foo xfs_io -c "fpunch 8796093022213 25769803777" /mnt/foo kernel BUG at include/linux/highmem.h:275! Oops: invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] SMP PTI CPU: 3 UID: 0 PID: 710 Comm: xfs_io Not tainted 6.15.0-rc3 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.16.3-2.fc40 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:zero_user_segments.constprop.0+0xd7/0x110 RSP: 0018:ffffc90001cf3b38 EFLAGS: 00010287 RAX: 0000000000000005 RBX: ffffea0001485e40 RCX: 0000000000001000 RDX: 000000000040b000 RSI: 0000000000000005 RDI: 000000000040b000 RBP: 000000000040affb R08: ffff888000000000 R09: ffffea0000000000 R10: 0000000000000003 R11: 00000000fffc7fc5 R12: 0000000000000005 R13: 000000000040affb R14: ffffea0001485e40 R15: ffff888031cd3000 FS: 00007f4f63d0b780(0000) GS:ffff8880d337d000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 000000001ae0b038 CR3: 00000000536aa000 CR4: 00000000000006f0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 Call Trace: <TASK> truncate_inode_partial_folio+0x3dd/0x620 truncate_inode_pages_range+0x226/0x720 ? bdev_getblk+0x52/0x3e0 ? ext4_get_group_desc+0x78/0x150 ? crc32c_arch+0xfd/0x180 ? __ext4_get_inode_loc+0x18c/0x840 ? ext4_inode_csum+0x117/0x160 ? jbd2_journal_dirty_metadata+0x61/0x390 ? __ext4_handle_dirty_metadata+0xa0/0x2b0 ? kmem_cache_free+0x90/0x5a0 ? jbd2_journal_stop+0x1d5/0x550 ? __ext4_journal_stop+0x49/0x100 truncate_pagecache_range+0x50/0x80 ext4_truncate_page_cache_block_range+0x57/0x3a0 ext4_punch_hole+0x1fe/0x670 ext4_fallocate+0x792/0x17d0 ? __count_memcg_events+0x175/0x2a0 vfs_fallocate+0x121/0x560 ksys_fallocate+0x51/0xc0 __x64_sys_fallocate+0x24/0x40 x64_sys_call+0x18d2/0x4170 do_syscall_64+0xa7/0x220 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e Fix this by filtering out cases where the punching start offset exceeds max_end.

Source: the CVE record as published by its numbering authority, via NVD and CVE.org.

The underlying weakness: Out-of-bounds Read

The product reads data past the end, or before the beginning, of the intended buffer.

How developers prevent this class of flaw

  • Use a language that provides appropriate memory abstractions.

More Out-of-bounds Read vulnerabilities (CWE-125)

Timeline

  1. CVE record published.
  2. Record last changed materially (score, affected products, status or references).

References

Recent Out-of-bounds Read vulnerabilities

Spotted an error? Tell us.