# CVE-2025-38140: dm: limit swapping tables for devices with zone write plugs

CVE-2025-38140 is fixed in 13 products on 1 platform, first by DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38140, released July 3, 2025. It is not reported as exploited. Patch Radar priority: High.

- Web page: https://patchblox.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38140
- Priority: High
- CVSS: 7.0 (medium)
- EPSS: 0.0023
- CISA KEV: not listed
- Exploited (vendor report): no
- Publicly disclosed: no
- Published: Jul 3, 2025
- Vendor advisory: https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2025-38140

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:  dm: limit swapping tables for devices with zone write plugs  dm_revalidate_zones() only allowed new or previously unzoned devices to call blk_revalidate_disk_zones(). If the device was already zoned, disk->nr_zones would always equal md->nr_zones, so dm_revalidate_zones() returned without doing any work. This would make the zoned settings for the device not match the new table. If the device had zone write plug resources, it could run into errors like bdev_zone_is_seq() reading invalid memory because disk->conv_zones_bitmap was the wrong size.  If the device doesn't have any zone write plug resources, calling blk_revalidate_disk_zones() will always correctly update device.  If blk_revalidate_disk_zones() fails, it can still overwrite or clear the current disk->nr_zones value. In this case, DM must restore the previous value of disk->nr_zones, so that the zoned settings will continue to match the previous value that it fell back to.  If the device already has zone write plug resources, blk_revalidate_disk_zones() will not correctly update them, if it is called for arbitrary zoned device changes.  Since there is not much need for this ability, the easiest solution is to disallow any table reloads that change the zoned settings, for devices that already have zone plug resources.  Specifically, if a device already has zone plug resources allocated, it can only switch to another zoned table that also emulates zone append.  Also, it cannot change the device size or the zone size. A device can switch to an error target.

## Where it's fixed

| Platform | Product | Fixed in | Fix | Released |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | dtb-aarch64 opensuse-leap 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.6.1 | [OPENSUSE-SU-2025:20081-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/opensuse-su-2025-20081-1.md) | Nov 25, 2025 |
| Linux | kernel-64kb opensuse-leap 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.6.1 | [OPENSUSE-SU-2025:20081-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/opensuse-su-2025-20081-1.md) | Nov 25, 2025 |
| Linux | kernel-64kb sles 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.6.1 | [SUSE-SU-2025:21139-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/suse-su-2025-21139-1.md) | Nov 25, 2025 |
| Linux | kernel-default opensuse-leap 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.6.1 | [OPENSUSE-SU-2025:20081-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/opensuse-su-2025-20081-1.md) | Nov 25, 2025 |
| Linux | kernel-default sles 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.6.1 | [SUSE-SU-2025:21139-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/suse-su-2025-21139-1.md) | Nov 25, 2025 |
| Linux | kernel-default-base opensuse-leap 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.6.1.160000.2.4 | [OPENSUSE-SU-2025:20081-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/opensuse-su-2025-20081-1.md) | Nov 25, 2025 |
| Linux | kernel-default-base sles 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.6.1.160000.2.4 | [SUSE-SU-2025:21139-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/suse-su-2025-21139-1.md) | Nov 25, 2025 |
| Linux | kernel-docs opensuse-leap 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.6.1 | [OPENSUSE-SU-2025:20081-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/opensuse-su-2025-20081-1.md) | Nov 25, 2025 |
| Linux | kernel-docs sles 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.6.1 | [SUSE-SU-2025:21139-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/suse-su-2025-21139-1.md) | Nov 25, 2025 |
| Linux | kernel-kvmsmall opensuse-leap 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.6.1 | [OPENSUSE-SU-2025:20081-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/opensuse-su-2025-20081-1.md) | Nov 25, 2025 |
| Linux | kernel-kvmsmall sles 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.6.1 | [SUSE-SU-2025:21139-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/suse-su-2025-21139-1.md) | Nov 25, 2025 |
| Linux | kernel-obs-build opensuse-leap 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.6.1 | [OPENSUSE-SU-2025:20081-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/opensuse-su-2025-20081-1.md) | Nov 25, 2025 |
| Linux | kernel-obs-qa opensuse-leap 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.6.1 | [OPENSUSE-SU-2025:20081-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/opensuse-su-2025-20081-1.md) | Nov 25, 2025 |
| Linux | kernel-obs-qa sles 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.6.1 | [SUSE-SU-2025:21139-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/suse-su-2025-21139-1.md) | Nov 25, 2025 |
| Linux | kernel-rt opensuse-leap 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.6.1 | [OPENSUSE-SU-2025:20081-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/opensuse-su-2025-20081-1.md) | Nov 25, 2025 |
| Linux | kernel-source opensuse-leap 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.6.1 | [OPENSUSE-SU-2025:20081-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/opensuse-su-2025-20081-1.md) | Nov 25, 2025 |
| Linux | kernel-source sles 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.6.1 | [SUSE-SU-2025:21139-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/suse-su-2025-21139-1.md) | Nov 25, 2025 |
| Linux | kernel-syms opensuse-leap 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.6.1 | [OPENSUSE-SU-2025:20081-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/opensuse-su-2025-20081-1.md) | Nov 25, 2025 |
| Linux | kernel-syms sles 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.6.1 | [SUSE-SU-2025:21139-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/suse-su-2025-21139-1.md) | Nov 25, 2025 |
| Linux | kernel-zfcpdump opensuse-leap 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.6.1 | [OPENSUSE-SU-2025:20081-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/opensuse-su-2025-20081-1.md) | Nov 25, 2025 |
| Linux | kernel-zfcpdump sles 16.0 | 6.12.0-160000.6.1 | [SUSE-SU-2025:21139-1](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/suse-su-2025-21139-1.md) | Nov 25, 2025 |
| Linux | linux Debian 13.5 (trixie) | 6.12.115-2 | [DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38140](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/debian-cve-2025-38140.md) | Jul 3, 2025 |
| Linux | linux Debian 14 | 6.16.3-1 | [DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38140](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/debian-cve-2025-38140.md) | Jul 3, 2025 |

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