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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2025-38222

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: ext4: inline: fix len overflow in ext4_prepare_inline_data When running the following code on an ext4 filesystem with inline_data feature enabled, it will lead to the bug below. fd = open("file1", O_RDWR | O_CREAT | O_TRUNC, 0666); ftruncate(fd, 30); pwrite(fd, "a", 1, (1UL << 40) + 5UL); That happens because write_begin will succeed as when ext4_generic_write_inline_data calls ext4_prepare_inline_data, pos + len will be truncated, leading to ext4_prepare_inline_data parameter to be 6 instead of 0x10000000006. Then, later when write_end is called, we hit: BUG_ON(pos + len > EXT4_I(inode)->i_inline_size); at ext4_write_inline_data. Fix it by using a loff_t type for the len parameter in ext4_prepare_inline_data instead of an unsigned int. [ 44.545164] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 44.545530] kernel BUG at fs/ext4/inline.c:240! [ 44.545834] Oops: invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] SMP NOPTI [ 44.546172] CPU: 3 UID: 0 PID: 343 Comm: test Not tainted 6.15.0-rc2-00003-g9080916f4863 #45 PREEMPT(full) 112853fcebfdb93254270a7959841d2c6aa2c8bb [ 44.546523] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.16.3-debian-1.16.3-2 04/01/2014 [ 44.546523] RIP: 0010:ext4_write_inline_data+0xfe/0x100 [ 44.546523] Code: 3c 0e 48 83 c7 48 48 89 de 5b 41 5c 41 5d 41 5e 41 5f 5d e9 e4 fa 43 01 5b 41 5c 41 5d 41 5e 41 5f 5d c3 cc cc cc cc cc 0f 0b <0f> 0b 0f 1f 44 00 00 55 41 57 41 56 41 55 41 54 53 48 83 ec 20 49 [ 44.546523] RSP: 0018:ffffb342008b79a8 EFLAGS: 00010216 [ 44.546523] RAX: 0000000000000001 RBX: ffff9329c579c000 RCX: 0000010000000006 [ 44.546523] RDX: 000000000000003c RSI: ffffb342008b79f0 RDI: ffff9329c158e738 [ 44.546523] RBP: 0000000000000001 R08: 0000000000000001 R09: 0000000000000000 [ 44.546523] R10: 00007ffffffff000 R11: ffffffff9bd0d910 R12: 0000006210000000 [ 44.546523] R13: fffffc7e4015e700 R14: 0000010000000005 R15: ffff9329c158e738 [ 44.546523] FS: 00007f4299934740(0000) GS:ffff932a60179000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [ 44.546523] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [ 44.546523] CR2: 00007f4299a1ec90 CR3: 0000000002886002 CR4: 0000000000770eb0 [ 44.546523] PKRU: 55555554 [ 44.546523] Call Trace: [ 44.546523] <TASK> [ 44.546523] ext4_write_inline_data_end+0x126/0x2d0 [ 44.546523] generic_perform_write+0x17e/0x270 [ 44.546523] ext4_buffered_write_iter+0xc8/0x170 [ 44.546523] vfs_write+0x2be/0x3e0 [ 44.546523] __x64_sys_pwrite64+0x6d/0xc0 [ 44.546523] do_syscall_64+0x6a/0xf0 [ 44.546523] ? __wake_up+0x89/0xb0 [ 44.546523] ? xas_find+0x72/0x1c0 [ 44.546523] ? next_uptodate_folio+0x317/0x330 [ 44.546523] ? set_pte_range+0x1a6/0x270 [ 44.546523] ? filemap_map_pages+0x6ee/0x840 [ 44.546523] ? ext4_setattr+0x2fa/0x750 [ 44.546523] ? do_pte_missing+0x128/0xf70 [ 44.546523] ? security_inode_post_setattr+0x3e/0xd0 [ 44.546523] ? ___pte_offset_map+0x19/0x100 [ 44.546523] ? handle_mm_fault+0x721/0xa10 [ 44.546523] ? do_user_addr_fault+0x197/0x730 [ 44.546523] ? do_syscall_64+0x76/0xf0 [ 44.546523] ? arch_exit_to_user_mode_prepare+0x1e/0x60 [ 44.546523] ? irqentry_exit_to_user_mode+0x79/0x90 [ 44.546523] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x55/0x5d [ 44.546523] RIP: 0033:0x7f42999c6687 [ 44.546523] Code: 48 89 fa 4c 89 df e8 58 b3 00 00 8b 93 08 03 00 00 59 5e 48 83 f8 fc 74 1a 5b c3 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 48 8b 44 24 10 0f 05 <5b> c3 0f 1f 80 00 00 00 00 83 e2 39 83 fa 08 75 de e8 23 ff ff ff [ 44.546523] RSP: 002b:00007ffeae4a7930 EFLAGS: 00000202 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000012 [ 44.546523] RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00007f4299934740 RCX: 00007f42999c6687 [ 44.546523] RDX: 0000000000000001 RSI: 000055ea6149200f RDI: 0000000000000003 [ 44.546523] RBP: 00007ffeae4a79a0 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000 [ 44.546523] R10: 0000010000000005 R11: 0000000000000202 R12: 0000 ---truncated---

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-190

An arithmetic operation produces a value too large for its type and wraps around to an unexpected — often tiny or negative — number. That miscalculated value then drives a memory allocation or a bounds check, opening the door to corruption. The fix is checked arithmetic and validating sizes before they're used.

General guidance for the integer overflow 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:>= 3.8, < 5.4.295>= 5.5, < 5.10.239>= 5.11, < 5.15.186>= 5.16, < 6.1.142>= 6.2, < 6.6.95>= 6.7, < 6.12.35>= 6.13, < 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 5.4.295+, 5.10.239+, 5.15.186+, 6.1.142+, or any later stable release | Debian 11+ with patched kernel

  1. 1. Identify the current running kernel version using `uname -r`
  2. 2. For systems running kernel >= 3.8 and < 5.4.295: upgrade to kernel version 5.4.295 or later
  3. 3. For systems running kernel >= 5.5 and < 5.10.239: upgrade to kernel version 5.10.239 or later
  4. 4. For systems running kernel >= 5.11 and < 5.15.186: upgrade to kernel version 5.15.186 or later
  5. 5. For systems running kernel >= 5.16 and < 6.1.142: upgrade to kernel version 6.1.142 or later
  6. 6. For Debian 11 systems: apply Debian kernel updates or upgrade to a newer Debian release that includes the fixed kernel
  7. 7. Reboot the system to load the patched kernel
  8. 8. Verify the fix is applied by checking the kernel version and confirming inline data operations work correctly at large offsets
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require system reboot and could have compatibility implications with custom modules or specific hardware drivers; ensure backup and test in staging if possible

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

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-38222 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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