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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2025-38260

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-07-09
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.1.143 / 6.6.96 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: btrfs: handle csum tree error with rescue=ibadroots correctly [BUG] There is syzbot based reproducer that can crash the kernel, with the following call trace: (With some debug output added) DEBUG: rescue=ibadroots parsed BTRFS: device fsid 14d642db-7b15-43e4-81e6-4b8fac6a25f8 devid 1 transid 8 /dev/loop0 (7:0) scanned by repro (1010) BTRFS info (device loop0): first mount of filesystem 14d642db-7b15-43e4-81e6-4b8fac6a25f8 BTRFS info (device loop0): using blake2b (blake2b-256-generic) checksum algorithm BTRFS info (device loop0): using free-space-tree BTRFS warning (device loop0): checksum verify failed on logical 5312512 mirror 1 wanted 0xb043382657aede36608fd3386d6b001692ff406164733d94e2d9a180412c6003 found 0x810ceb2bacb7f0f9eb2bf3b2b15c02af867cb35ad450898169f3b1f0bd818651 level 0 DEBUG: read tree root path failed for tree csum, ret=-5 BTRFS warning (device loop0): checksum verify failed on logical 5328896 mirror 1 wanted 0x51be4e8b303da58e6340226815b70e3a93592dac3f30dd510c7517454de8567a found 0x51be4e8b303da58e634022a315b70e3a93592dac3f30dd510c7517454de8567a level 0 BTRFS warning (device loop0): checksum verify failed on logical 5292032 mirror 1 wanted 0x1924ccd683be9efc2fa98582ef58760e3848e9043db8649ee382681e220cdee4 found 0x0cb6184f6e8799d9f8cb335dccd1d1832da1071d12290dab3b85b587ecacca6e level 0 process 'repro' launched './file2' with NULL argv: empty string added DEBUG: no csum root, idatacsums=0 ibadroots=134217728 Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc0000000041: 0000 [#1] SMP KASAN NOPTI KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000208-0x000000000000020f] CPU: 5 UID: 0 PID: 1010 Comm: repro Tainted: G OE 6.15.0-custom+ #249 PREEMPT(full) Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS unknown 02/02/2022 RIP: 0010:btrfs_lookup_csum+0x93/0x3d0 [btrfs] Call Trace: <TASK> btrfs_lookup_bio_sums+0x47a/0xdf0 [btrfs] btrfs_submit_bbio+0x43e/0x1a80 [btrfs] submit_one_bio+0xde/0x160 [btrfs] btrfs_readahead+0x498/0x6a0 [btrfs] read_pages+0x1c3/0xb20 page_cache_ra_order+0x4b5/0xc20 filemap_get_pages+0x2d3/0x19e0 filemap_read+0x314/0xde0 __kernel_read+0x35b/0x900 bprm_execve+0x62e/0x1140 do_execveat_common.isra.0+0x3fc/0x520 __x64_sys_execveat+0xdc/0x130 do_syscall_64+0x54/0x1d0 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- [CAUSE] Firstly the fs has a corrupted csum tree root, thus to mount the fs we have to go "ro,rescue=ibadroots" mount option. Normally with that mount option, a bad csum tree root should set BTRFS_FS_STATE_NO_DATA_CSUMS flag, so that any future data read will ignore csum search. But in this particular case, we have the following call trace that caused NULL csum root, but not setting BTRFS_FS_STATE_NO_DATA_CSUMS: load_global_roots_objectid(): ret = btrfs_search_slot(); /* Succeeded */ btrfs_item_key_to_cpu() found = true; /* We found the root item for csum tree. */ root = read_tree_root_path(); if (IS_ERR(root)) { if (!btrfs_test_opt(fs_info, IGNOREBADROOTS)) /* * Since we have rescue=ibadroots mount option, * @ret is still 0. */ break; if (!found || ret) { /* @found is true, @ret is 0, error handling for csum * tree is skipped. */ } This means we completely skipped to set BTRFS_FS_STATE_NO_DATA_CSUMS if the csum tree is corrupted, which results unexpected later csum lookup. [FIX] If read_tree_root_path() failed, always populate @ret to the error number. As at the end of the function, we need @ret to determine if we need to do the extra error handling for csum tree.

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:>= 5.17, < 6.1.143>= 6.2, < 6.6.96>= 6.7, < 6.12.36>= 6.13, < 6.15.5= 6.16
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 6.1.143 / 6.6.96 / 6.12.36 or later
Fixed in 6.1.1436.6.966.12.36
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Linux Kernel >= 6.1.143 (6.1.y), >= 6.6.96 (6.6.y), >= 6.12.36 (6.12.y), or >= 6.15.5 (6.13.y-6.15.y) - choose the appropriate branch matching your current kernel; Debian 11 should use backported kernel from bullseye-backports

  1. 1. Identify current running kernel version with `uname -r`
  2. 2. For Debian 11 (Bullseye), check available kernel packages with `apt-cache search linux-image`
  3. 3. Upgrade to a patched kernel version: for 6.1.y branch use >= 6.1.143, for 6.6.y branch use >= 6.6.96, for 6.7-6.12.y use >= 6.12.36, or for 6.13-6.15.y use >= 6.15.5
  4. 4. On Debian, install the new kernel with `apt-get update && apt-get install linux-image-<version>`
  5. 5. Reboot into the new kernel: `reboot`
  6. 6. Verify the fix is applied by checking the kernel version with `uname -r`
Caveat Standard kernel upgrade risks apply - ensure compatibility with custom modules/drivers and backup critical data before rebooting

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

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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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