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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2025-38503

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-08-16
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.1.146 / 6.6.99 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: fix assertion when building free space tree When building the free space tree with the block group tree feature enabled, we can hit an assertion failure like this: BTRFS info (device loop0 state M): rebuilding free space tree assertion failed: ret == 0, in fs/btrfs/free-space-tree.c:1102 ------------[ cut here ]------------ kernel BUG at fs/btrfs/free-space-tree.c:1102! Internal error: Oops - BUG: 00000000f2000800 [#1] SMP Modules linked in: CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 6592 Comm: syz-executor322 Not tainted 6.15.0-rc7-syzkaller-gd7fa1af5b33e #0 PREEMPT Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 05/07/2025 pstate: 60400005 (nZCv daif +PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) pc : populate_free_space_tree+0x514/0x518 fs/btrfs/free-space-tree.c:1102 lr : populate_free_space_tree+0x514/0x518 fs/btrfs/free-space-tree.c:1102 sp : ffff8000a4ce7600 x29: ffff8000a4ce76e0 x28: ffff0000c9bc6000 x27: ffff0000ddfff3d8 x26: ffff0000ddfff378 x25: dfff800000000000 x24: 0000000000000001 x23: ffff8000a4ce7660 x22: ffff70001499cecc x21: ffff0000e1d8c160 x20: ffff0000e1cb7800 x19: ffff0000e1d8c0b0 x18: 00000000ffffffff x17: ffff800092f39000 x16: ffff80008ad27e48 x15: ffff700011e740c0 x14: 1ffff00011e740c0 x13: 0000000000000004 x12: ffffffffffffffff x11: ffff700011e740c0 x10: 0000000000ff0100 x9 : 94ef24f55d2dbc00 x8 : 94ef24f55d2dbc00 x7 : 0000000000000001 x6 : 0000000000000001 x5 : ffff8000a4ce6f98 x4 : ffff80008f415ba0 x3 : ffff800080548ef0 x2 : 0000000000000000 x1 : 0000000100000000 x0 : 000000000000003e Call trace: populate_free_space_tree+0x514/0x518 fs/btrfs/free-space-tree.c:1102 (P) btrfs_rebuild_free_space_tree+0x14c/0x54c fs/btrfs/free-space-tree.c:1337 btrfs_start_pre_rw_mount+0xa78/0xe10 fs/btrfs/disk-io.c:3074 btrfs_remount_rw fs/btrfs/super.c:1319 [inline] btrfs_reconfigure+0x828/0x2418 fs/btrfs/super.c:1543 reconfigure_super+0x1d4/0x6f0 fs/super.c:1083 do_remount fs/namespace.c:3365 [inline] path_mount+0xb34/0xde0 fs/namespace.c:4200 do_mount fs/namespace.c:4221 [inline] __do_sys_mount fs/namespace.c:4432 [inline] __se_sys_mount fs/namespace.c:4409 [inline] __arm64_sys_mount+0x3e8/0x468 fs/namespace.c:4409 __invoke_syscall arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:35 [inline] invoke_syscall+0x98/0x2b8 arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:49 el0_svc_common+0x130/0x23c arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:132 do_el0_svc+0x48/0x58 arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:151 el0_svc+0x58/0x17c arch/arm64/kernel/entry-common.c:767 el0t_64_sync_handler+0x78/0x108 arch/arm64/kernel/entry-common.c:786 el0t_64_sync+0x198/0x19c arch/arm64/kernel/entry.S:600 Code: f0047182 91178042 528089c3 9771d47b (d4210000) ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- This happens because we are processing an empty block group, which has no extents allocated from it, there are no items for this block group, including the block group item since block group items are stored in a dedicated tree when using the block group tree feature. It also means this is the block group with the highest start offset, so there are no higher keys in the extent root, hence btrfs_search_slot_for_read() returns 1 (no higher key found). Fix this by asserting 'ret' is 0 only if the block group tree feature is not enabled, in which case we should find a block group item for the block group since it's stored in the extent root and block group item keys are greater than extent item keys (the value for BTRFS_BLOCK_GROUP_ITEM_KEY is 192 and for BTRFS_EXTENT_ITEM_KEY and BTRFS_METADATA_ITEM_KEY the values are 168 and 169 respectively). In case 'ret' is 1, we just need to add a record to the free space tree which spans the whole block group, and we can achieve this by making 'ret == 0' as the while loop's condition.

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-617

Attacker-controllable input can reach an assertion that aborts the process when it fails, so a check meant for debugging becomes a denial-of-service in production. A single crafted request takes the service down. The fix is to handle unexpected input gracefully on reachable paths rather than asserting on it.

General guidance for the reachable assertion 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:>= 6.0.19, < 6.1.146>= 6.2, < 6.6.99>= 6.7, < 6.12.39>= 6.13, < 6.15.7= 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 6.1.146 / 6.6.99 / 6.12.39 or later
Fixed in 6.1.1466.6.996.12.39
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Linux kernel >= 6.1.146 (for 6.0.x-6.1.x), >= 6.6.99 (for 6.2.x-6.6.x), >= 6.12.39 (for 6.7.x-6.12.x), >= 6.15.7 (for 6.13.x-6.14.x); Debian 11 kernel update from vendor repositories

  1. Upgrade the Linux kernel to a fixed version based on your current branch: For 6.0.x-6.1.x, upgrade to >= 6.1.146; For 6.2.x-6.6.x, upgrade to >= 6.6.99; For 6.7.x-6.12.x, upgrade to >= 6.12.39; For 6.13.x-6.14.x, upgrade to >= 6.15.7 (or >= 6.14.6 if available); For Debian 11 (Bullseye), apply the vendor kernel update from Debian's security or LTS repository
Caveat Standard kernel upgrade risks apply - ensure compatibility with system drivers and modules; reboot required after kernel upgrade

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 $1,600. 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-2025-38503 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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