# CVE-2025-23150: ext4: fix off-by-one error in do_split > A use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel ext4 filesystem allows local attackers to execute arbitrary code or escalate privileges via crafted symlink operations. - **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`) - **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:** Yes - **Published:** 1 May 2025 - **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026 - **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2025-23150, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-23150, GHSA-jf2p-fggv-v92v, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-23150, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-23150, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-23150, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-23150 ## What is CVE-2025-23150? CVE-2025-23150 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 1 May 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: ext4: fix off-by-one error in do_split Syzkaller detected a use-after-free issue in ext4_insert_dentry that was caused by out-of-bounds access due to incorrect splitting in do_split. BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in ext4_insert_dentry+0x36a/0x6d0 fs/ext4/namei.c:2109 Write of size 251 at addr ffff888074572f14 by task syz-executor335/5847 CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 5847 Comm: syz-executor335 Not tainted 6.12.0-rc6-syzkaller-00318-ga9cda7c0ffed #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 10/30/2024 Call Trace: __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:94 [inline] dump_stack_lvl+0x241/0x360 lib/dump_stack.c:120 print_address_description mm/kasan/report.c:377 [inline] print_report+0x169/0x550 mm/kasan/report.c:488 kasan_report+0x143/0x180 mm/kasan/report.c:601 kasan_check_range+0x282/0x290 mm/kasan/generic.c:189 __asan_memcpy+0x40/0x70 mm/kasan/shadow.c:106 ext4_insert_dentry+0x36a/0x6d0 fs/ext4/namei.c:2109 add_dirent_to_buf+0x3d9/0x750 fs/ext4/namei.c:2154 make_indexed_dir+0xf98/0x1600 fs/ext4/namei.c:2351 ext4_add_entry+0x222a/0x25d0 fs/ext4/namei.c:2455 ext4_add_nondir+0x8d/0x290 fs/ext4/namei.c:2796 ext4_symlink+0x920/0xb50 fs/ext4/namei.c:3431 vfs_symlink+0x137/0x2e0 fs/namei.c:4615 do_symlinkat+0x222/0x3a0 fs/namei.c:4641 __do_sys_symlink fs/namei.c:4662 [inline] __se_sys_symlink fs/namei.c:4660 [inline] __x64_sys_symlink+0x7a/0x90 fs/namei.c:4660 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:52 [inline] do_syscall_64+0xf3/0x230 arch/x86/entry/common.c:83 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f The following loop is located right above 'if' statement. for (i = count-1; i >= 0; i--) { /* is more than half of this entry in 2nd half of the block? */ if (size + map[i].size/2 > blocksize/2) break; size += map[i].size; move++; } 'i' in this case could go down to -1, in which case sum of active entries wouldn't exceed half the block size, but previous behaviour would also do split in half if sum would exceed at the very last block, which in case of having too many long name files in a single block could lead to out-of-bounds access and following use-after-free. Found by Linux Verification Center (linuxtesting.org) with Syzkaller. Weakness: CWE-193 (Off-by-one Error) ## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-23150? It affects 2 products. Products: Debian Debian Linux, Linux kernel. ## How do I fix CVE-2025-23150? Apply the vendor's patch. ## Is CVE-2025-23150 being exploited? There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-23150 in the wild and no public exploit code. ## Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux - [CVE-2015-3306](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-3306/): ProFTPD Improper Access Control (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild) - [CVE-2025-49113](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-49113/): RoundCube Webmail Deserialization of Untrusted Data (critical 9.9, exploited in the wild) - [CVE-2026-24061](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-24061/): GNU InetUtils Argument Injection (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild) - [CVE-2025-39682](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-39682/): Linux Kernel Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild) - [CVE-2024-9680](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-9680/): Mozilla Firefox Use-After-Free (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild) ## Fix prompt for AI coding agents ```text Check this codebase for CVE-2025-23150 and fix it if it is affected. What it is: CVE-2025-23150 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 1 May 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim. Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-23150 in the wild and no public exploit code. Affected product: Debian Debian Linux. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page. Task: 1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies. 2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it. 3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead. 4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why. 5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing. Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-23150/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-23150/index.md) ``` ## Sources - CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-23150 - NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-23150 - OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-23150 --- From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-23150/ Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.