# CVE-2025-38578: f2fs: fix to avoid UAF in f2fs_sync_inode_meta() CVE-2025-38578 is fixed in 9 products on 1 platform, first by DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38578, released August 19, 2025. It is not reported as exploited. Patch Radar priority: High. - Web page: https://patchblox.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38578 - Priority: High - CVSS: 7.3 (medium) - EPSS: 0.0020 - CISA KEV: not listed - Exploited (vendor report): no - Publicly disclosed: no - Published: Aug 19, 2025 - Vendor advisory: https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2025-38578 ## Description In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: f2fs: fix to avoid UAF in f2fs_sync_inode_meta() syzbot reported an UAF issue as below: [1] [2] [1] https://syzkaller.appspot.com/text?tag=CrashReport&x=16594c60580000 ================================================================== BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in __list_del_entry_valid+0xa6/0x130 lib/list_debug.c:62 Read of size 8 at addr ffff888100567dc8 by task kworker/u4:0/8 CPU: 1 PID: 8 Comm: kworker/u4:0 Tainted: G W 6.1.129-syzkaller-00017-g642656a36791 #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 02/12/2025 Workqueue: writeback wb_workfn (flush-7:0) Call Trace: __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:88 [inline] dump_stack_lvl+0x151/0x1b7 lib/dump_stack.c:106 print_address_description mm/kasan/report.c:316 [inline] print_report+0x158/0x4e0 mm/kasan/report.c:427 kasan_report+0x13c/0x170 mm/kasan/report.c:531 __asan_report_load8_noabort+0x14/0x20 mm/kasan/report_generic.c:351 __list_del_entry_valid+0xa6/0x130 lib/list_debug.c:62 __list_del_entry include/linux/list.h:134 [inline] list_del_init include/linux/list.h:206 [inline] f2fs_inode_synced+0x100/0x2e0 fs/f2fs/super.c:1553 f2fs_update_inode+0x72/0x1c40 fs/f2fs/inode.c:588 f2fs_update_inode_page+0x135/0x170 fs/f2fs/inode.c:706 f2fs_write_inode+0x416/0x790 fs/f2fs/inode.c:734 write_inode fs/fs-writeback.c:1460 [inline] __writeback_single_inode+0x4cf/0xb80 fs/fs-writeback.c:1677 writeback_sb_inodes+0xb32/0x1910 fs/fs-writeback.c:1903 __writeback_inodes_wb+0x118/0x3f0 fs/fs-writeback.c:1974 wb_writeback+0x3da/0xa00 fs/fs-writeback.c:2081 wb_check_background_flush fs/fs-writeback.c:2151 [inline] wb_do_writeback fs/fs-writeback.c:2239 [inline] wb_workfn+0xbba/0x1030 fs/fs-writeback.c:2266 process_one_work+0x73d/0xcb0 kernel/workqueue.c:2299 worker_thread+0xa60/0x1260 kernel/workqueue.c:2446 kthread+0x26d/0x300 kernel/kthread.c:386 ret_from_fork+0x1f/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:295 Allocated by task 298: kasan_save_stack mm/kasan/common.c:45 [inline] kasan_set_track+0x4b/0x70 mm/kasan/common.c:52 kasan_save_alloc_info+0x1f/0x30 mm/kasan/generic.c:505 __kasan_slab_alloc+0x6c/0x80 mm/kasan/common.c:333 kasan_slab_alloc include/linux/kasan.h:202 [inline] slab_post_alloc_hook+0x53/0x2c0 mm/slab.h:768 slab_alloc_node mm/slub.c:3421 [inline] slab_alloc mm/slub.c:3431 [inline] __kmem_cache_alloc_lru mm/slub.c:3438 [inline] kmem_cache_alloc_lru+0x102/0x270 mm/slub.c:3454 alloc_inode_sb include/linux/fs.h:3255 [inline] f2fs_alloc_inode+0x2d/0x350 fs/f2fs/super.c:1437 alloc_inode fs/inode.c:261 [inline] iget_locked+0x18c/0x7e0 fs/inode.c:1373 f2fs_iget+0x55/0x4ca0 fs/f2fs/inode.c:486 f2fs_lookup+0x3c1/0xb50 fs/f2fs/namei.c:484 __lookup_slow+0x2b9/0x3e0 fs/namei.c:1689 lookup_slow+0x5a/0x80 fs/namei.c:1706 walk_component+0x2e7/0x410 fs/namei.c:1997 lookup_last fs/namei.c:2454 [inline] path_lookupat+0x16d/0x450 fs/namei.c:2478 filename_lookup+0x251/0x600 fs/namei.c:2507 vfs_statx+0x107/0x4b0 fs/stat.c:229 vfs_fstatat fs/stat.c:267 [inline] vfs_lstat include/linux/fs.h:3434 [inline] __do_sys_newlstat fs/stat.c:423 [inline] __se_sys_newlstat+0xda/0x7c0 fs/stat.c:417 __x64_sys_newlstat+0x5b/0x70 fs/stat.c:417 x64_sys_call+0x52/0x9a0 arch/x86/include/generated/asm/syscalls_64.h:7 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:51 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x3b/0x80 arch/x86/entry/common.c:81 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x68/0xd2 Freed by task 0: kasan_save_stack mm/kasan/common.c:45 [inline] kasan_set_track+0x4b/0x70 mm/kasan/common.c:52 kasan_save_free_info+0x2b/0x40 mm/kasan/generic.c:516 ____kasan_slab_free+0x131/0x180 mm/kasan/common.c:241 __kasan_slab_free+0x11/0x20 mm/kasan/common.c:249 kasan_slab_free include/linux/kasan.h:178 [inline] slab_free_hook mm/slub.c:1745 [inline] slab_free_freelist_hook mm/slub.c:1771 [inline] slab_free mm/slub.c:3686 [inline] kmem_cache_free+0x ---truncated--- ## Where it's fixed | Platform | Product | Fixed in | Fix | Released | |---|---|---|---|---| | Linux | kernel-uek ol 8 | 0:5.4.17-2136.348.3.el7uek | [ELSA-2025-20663](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/elsa-2025-20663.md) | Oct 11, 2025 | | Linux | kernel-uek-container ol 8 | 0:5.4.17-2136.348.3.el7uek | [ELSA-2025-20663](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/elsa-2025-20663.md) | Oct 11, 2025 | | Linux | kernel-uek-container-debug ol 8 | 0:5.4.17-2136.348.3.el7uek | [ELSA-2025-20663](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/elsa-2025-20663.md) | Oct 11, 2025 | | Linux | kernel-uek-debug ol 8 | 0:5.4.17-2136.348.3.el7uek | [ELSA-2025-20663](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/elsa-2025-20663.md) | Oct 11, 2025 | | Linux | kernel-uek-debug-devel ol 8 | 0:5.4.17-2136.348.3.el7uek | [ELSA-2025-20663](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/elsa-2025-20663.md) | Oct 11, 2025 | | Linux | kernel-uek-devel ol 8 | 0:5.4.17-2136.348.3.el7uek | [ELSA-2025-20663](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/elsa-2025-20663.md) | Oct 11, 2025 | | Linux | kernel-uek-doc ol 8 | 0:5.4.17-2136.348.3.el7uek | [ELSA-2025-20663](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/elsa-2025-20663.md) | Oct 11, 2025 | | Linux | kernel-uek-tools ol 8 | 0:5.4.17-2136.348.3.el7uek | [ELSA-2025-20663](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/elsa-2025-20663.md) | Oct 11, 2025 | | Linux | linux Debian 12.15 (bookworm) | 6.1.148-1 | [DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38578](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/debian-cve-2025-38578.md) | Aug 19, 2025 | | Linux | linux Debian 13.5 (trixie) | 6.12.43-1 | [DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38578](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/debian-cve-2025-38578.md) | Aug 19, 2025 | | Linux | linux Debian 14 | 6.16.3-1 | [DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38578](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/debian-cve-2025-38578.md) | Aug 19, 2025 | --- Data as of 2026-11-09T19:38:12Z UTC. 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