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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2025-38203

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-07-04
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.4.295 / 5.10.239 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click Patch available

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: jfs: Fix null-ptr-deref in jfs_ioc_trim [ Syzkaller Report ] Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc0000000087: 0000 [#1 KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000438-0x000000000000043f] CPU: 2 UID: 0 PID: 10614 Comm: syz-executor.0 Not tainted 6.13.0-rc6-gfbfd64d25c7a-dirty #1 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.15.0-1 04/01/2014 Sched_ext: serialise (enabled+all), task: runnable_at=-30ms RIP: 0010:jfs_ioc_trim+0x34b/0x8f0 Code: e7 e8 59 a4 87 fe 4d 8b 24 24 4d 8d bc 24 38 04 00 00 48 8d 93 90 82 fe ff 4c 89 ff 31 f6 RSP: 0018:ffffc900055f7cd0 EFLAGS: 00010206 RAX: 0000000000000087 RBX: 00005866a9e67ff8 RCX: 000000000000000a RDX: 0000000000000001 RSI: 0000000000000004 RDI: 0000000000000001 RBP: dffffc0000000000 R08: ffff88807c180003 R09: 1ffff1100f830000 R10: dffffc0000000000 R11: ffffed100f830001 R12: 0000000000000000 R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 0000000000000001 R15: 0000000000000438 FS: 00007fe520225640(0000) GS:ffff8880b7e80000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 00005593c91b2c88 CR3: 000000014927c000 CR4: 00000000000006f0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 Call Trace: <TASK> ? __die_body+0x61/0xb0 ? die_addr+0xb1/0xe0 ? exc_general_protection+0x333/0x510 ? asm_exc_general_protection+0x26/0x30 ? jfs_ioc_trim+0x34b/0x8f0 jfs_ioctl+0x3c8/0x4f0 ? __pfx_jfs_ioctl+0x10/0x10 ? __pfx_jfs_ioctl+0x10/0x10 __se_sys_ioctl+0x269/0x350 ? __pfx___se_sys_ioctl+0x10/0x10 ? do_syscall_64+0xfb/0x210 do_syscall_64+0xee/0x210 ? syscall_exit_to_user_mode+0x1e0/0x330 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f RIP: 0033:0x7fe51f4903ad Code: c3 e8 a7 2b 00 00 0f 1f 80 00 00 00 00 f3 0f 1e fa 48 89 f8 48 89 f7 48 89 d6 48 89 ca 4d RSP: 002b:00007fe5202250c8 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000010 RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00007fe51f5cbf80 RCX: 00007fe51f4903ad RDX: 0000000020000680 RSI: 00000000c0185879 RDI: 0000000000000005 RBP: 0000000000000000 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000 R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 00007fe520225640 R13: 000000000000000e R14: 00007fe51f44fca0 R15: 00007fe52021d000 </TASK> Modules linked in: ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- RIP: 0010:jfs_ioc_trim+0x34b/0x8f0 Code: e7 e8 59 a4 87 fe 4d 8b 24 24 4d 8d bc 24 38 04 00 00 48 8d 93 90 82 fe ff 4c 89 ff 31 f6 RSP: 0018:ffffc900055f7cd0 EFLAGS: 00010206 RAX: 0000000000000087 RBX: 00005866a9e67ff8 RCX: 000000000000000a RDX: 0000000000000001 RSI: 0000000000000004 RDI: 0000000000000001 RBP: dffffc0000000000 R08: ffff88807c180003 R09: 1ffff1100f830000 R10: dffffc0000000000 R11: ffffed100f830001 R12: 0000000000000000 R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 0000000000000001 R15: 0000000000000438 FS: 00007fe520225640(0000) GS:ffff8880b7e80000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 00005593c91b2c88 CR3: 000000014927c000 CR4: 00000000000006f0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 Kernel panic - not syncing: Fatal exception [ Analysis ] We believe that we have found a concurrency bug in the `fs/jfs` module that results in a null pointer dereference. There is a closely related issue which has been fixed: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=d6c1b3599b2feb5c7291f5ac3a36e5fa7cedb234 ... but, unfortunately, the accepted patch appears to still be susceptible to a null pointer dereference under some interleavings. To trigger the bug, we think that `JFS_SBI(ipbmap->i_sb)->bmap` is set to NULL in `dbFreeBits` and then dereferenced in `jfs_ioc_trim`. This bug manifests quite rarely under normal circumstances, but is triggereable from a syz-program.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis
How this class of weakness works · CWE-476

The code follows a pointer that is null, crashing the process. An attacker who can reliably trigger it turns the crash into a denial of service. The fix is checking for null before use and handling the failure path gracefully.

General guidance for the null pointer dereference class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Linux KernelOperating system
Affected:>= 3.7, < 5.4.295>= 5.5, < 5.10.239>= 5.11, < 5.15.186>= 5.16, < 6.15.4
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 11.0

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 5.4.295 / 5.10.239 / 5.15.186 or later
Fixed in 5.4.2955.10.2395.15.186
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Linux Kernel: upgrade to 5.4.295 / 5.10.239 / 5.15.186 / 6.15.4 or later (depending on your version branch); Debian 11: apply available security updates

  1. Identify your current kernel version using `uname -r` or `cat /proc/version`
  2. Determine which version branch you are on (e.g., 5.4.x, 5.10.x, 5.15.x, or 6.x)
  3. For Debian 11 (bullseye), check for available kernel updates: `apt-get update && apt-cache policy linux-image-$(uname -r)`
  4. Apply the appropriate kernel upgrade for your distribution (e.g., `apt-get upgrade` for Debian, or use your distribution's package manager)
  5. Reboot the system to load the fixed kernel
  6. Verify the fix is applied by checking the kernel version matches one of: 5.4.295+, 5.10.239+, 5.15.186+, or 6.15.4+
Caveat Kernel point releases typically have minimal breaking changes; however, always test in a non-production environment first

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $2,850. Get the upgrade done

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

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Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-38203 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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