CVE-2025-22002 netfs: Call `invalidate_cache` only if implemented

Medium 5.5 Published 3 Apr 2025 Updated 11 May 2026

A null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel netfs subsystem causes a crash when cache writes fail on filesystems lacking invalidate_cache implementation.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Any signed-in user
Attackable: Local or same network only
Victim action needed: Not needed
Fix: Available

What is CVE-2025-22002?

CVE-2025-22002 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 3 Apr 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

netfs: Call `invalidate_cache` only if implemented

Many filesystems such as NFS and Ceph do not implement the `invalidate_cache` method. On those filesystems, if writing to the cache (`NETFS_WRITE_TO_CACHE`) fails for some reason, the kernel crashes like this:

BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000 #PF: supervisor instruction fetch in kernel mode #PF: error_code(0x0010) - not-present page PGD 0 P4D 0 Oops: Oops: 0010 [#1] SMP PTI CPU: 9 UID: 0 PID: 3380 Comm: kworker/u193:11 Not tainted 6.13.3-cm4all1-hp #437 Hardware name: HP ProLiant DL380 Gen9/ProLiant DL380 Gen9, BIOS P89 10/17/2018 Workqueue: events_unbound netfs_write_collection_worker RIP: 0010:0x0 Code: Unable to access opcode bytes at 0xffffffffffffffd6. RSP: 0018:ffff9b86e2ca7dc0 EFLAGS: 00010202 RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: 7fffffffffffffff RDX: 0000000000000001 RSI: ffff89259d576a18 RDI: ffff89259d576900 RBP: ffff89259d5769b0 R08: ffff9b86e2ca7d28 R09: 0000000000000002 R10: ffff89258ceaca80 R11: 0000000000000001 R12: 0000000000000020 R13: ffff893d158b9338 R14: ffff89259d576900 R15: ffff89259d5769b0 FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff893c9fa40000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: ffffffffffffffd6 CR3: 000000054442e003 CR4: 00000000001706f0 Call Trace: <TASK> ? __die+0x1f/0x60 ? page_fault_oops+0x15c/0x460 ? try_to_wake_up+0x2d2/0x530 ? exc_page_fault+0x5e/0x100 ? asm_exc_page_fault+0x22/0x30 netfs_write_collection_worker+0xe9f/0x12b0 ? xs_poll_check_readable+0x3f/0x80 ? xs_stream_data_receive_workfn+0x8d/0x110 process_one_work+0x134/0x2d0 worker_thread+0x299/0x3a0 ? __pfx_worker_thread+0x10/0x10 kthread+0xba/0xe0 ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10 ret_from_fork+0x30/0x50 ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 </TASK> Modules linked in: CR2: 0000000000000000

This patch adds the missing `NULL` check.

Weakness: CWE-476

Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-22002?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2025-22002?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2025-22002 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-22002 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as BELL-CVE-2025-22002, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-22002, GHSA-68gg-f4cj-w6g2, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-22002, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-22002.