# CVE-2025-38222: ext4: inline: fix len overflow in ext4_prepare_inline_data > A local attacker can trigger a kernel crash in the ext4 filesystem by exploiting an integer overflow in inline data handling when the inline_data feature is enabled. - **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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:** 4 Jul 2025 - **Updated:** 15 Oct 2026 - **Also known as:** AZL-64746, BELL-CVE-2025-38222, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38222, GHSA-4x5c-w433-979g, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2025-38222, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-38222, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-38222, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-38222, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38222 ## What is CVE-2025-38222? CVE-2025-38222 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 4 Jul 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: inline: fix len overflow in ext4_prepare_inline_data When running the following code on an ext4 filesystem with inline_data feature enabled, it will lead to the bug below. fd = open("file1", O_RDWR | O_CREAT | O_TRUNC, 0666); ftruncate(fd, 30); pwrite(fd, "a", 1, (1UL << 40) + 5UL); That happens because write_begin will succeed as when ext4_generic_write_inline_data calls ext4_prepare_inline_data, pos + len will be truncated, leading to ext4_prepare_inline_data parameter to be 6 instead of 0x10000000006. Then, later when write_end is called, we hit: BUG_ON(pos + len > EXT4_I(inode)->i_inline_size); at ext4_write_inline_data. Fix it by using a loff_t type for the len parameter in ext4_prepare_inline_data instead of an unsigned int. [ 44.545164] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 44.545530] kernel BUG at fs/ext4/inline.c:240! [ 44.545834] Oops: invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] SMP NOPTI [ 44.546172] CPU: 3 UID: 0 PID: 343 Comm: test Not tainted 6.15.0-rc2-00003-g9080916f4863 #45 PREEMPT(full) 112853fcebfdb93254270a7959841d2c6aa2c8bb [ 44.546523] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.16.3-debian-1.16.3-2 04/01/2014 [ 44.546523] RIP: 0010:ext4_write_inline_data+0xfe/0x100 [ 44.546523] Code: 3c 0e 48 83 c7 48 48 89 de 5b 41 5c 41 5d 41 5e 41 5f 5d e9 e4 fa 43 01 5b 41 5c 41 5d 41 5e 41 5f 5d c3 cc cc cc cc cc 0f 0b <0f> 0b 0f 1f 44 00 00 55 41 57 41 56 41 55 41 54 53 48 83 ec 20 49 [ 44.546523] RSP: 0018:ffffb342008b79a8 EFLAGS: 00010216 [ 44.546523] RAX: 0000000000000001 RBX: ffff9329c579c000 RCX: 0000010000000006 [ 44.546523] RDX: 000000000000003c RSI: ffffb342008b79f0 RDI: ffff9329c158e738 [ 44.546523] RBP: 0000000000000001 R08: 0000000000000001 R09: 0000000000000000 [ 44.546523] R10: 00007ffffffff000 R11: ffffffff9bd0d910 R12: 0000006210000000 [ 44.546523] R13: fffffc7e4015e700 R14: 0000010000000005 R15: ffff9329c158e738 [ 44.546523] FS: 00007f4299934740(0000) GS:ffff932a60179000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [ 44.546523] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [ 44.546523] CR2: 00007f4299a1ec90 CR3: 0000000002886002 CR4: 0000000000770eb0 [ 44.546523] PKRU: 55555554 [ 44.546523] Call Trace: [ 44.546523] [ 44.546523] ext4_write_inline_data_end+0x126/0x2d0 [ 44.546523] generic_perform_write+0x17e/0x270 [ 44.546523] ext4_buffered_write_iter+0xc8/0x170 [ 44.546523] vfs_write+0x2be/0x3e0 [ 44.546523] __x64_sys_pwrite64+0x6d/0xc0 [ 44.546523] do_syscall_64+0x6a/0xf0 [ 44.546523] ? __wake_up+0x89/0xb0 [ 44.546523] ? xas_find+0x72/0x1c0 [ 44.546523] ? next_uptodate_folio+0x317/0x330 [ 44.546523] ? set_pte_range+0x1a6/0x270 [ 44.546523] ? filemap_map_pages+0x6ee/0x840 [ 44.546523] ? ext4_setattr+0x2fa/0x750 [ 44.546523] ? do_pte_missing+0x128/0xf70 [ 44.546523] ? security_inode_post_setattr+0x3e/0xd0 [ 44.546523] ? ___pte_offset_map+0x19/0x100 [ 44.546523] ? handle_mm_fault+0x721/0xa10 [ 44.546523] ? do_user_addr_fault+0x197/0x730 [ 44.546523] ? do_syscall_64+0x76/0xf0 [ 44.546523] ? arch_exit_to_user_mode_prepare+0x1e/0x60 [ 44.546523] ? irqentry_exit_to_user_mode+0x79/0x90 [ 44.546523] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x55/0x5d [ 44.546523] RIP: 0033:0x7f42999c6687 [ 44.546523] Code: 48 89 fa 4c 89 df e8 58 b3 00 00 8b 93 08 03 00 00 59 5e 48 83 f8 fc 74 1a 5b c3 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 48 8b 44 24 10 0f 05 <5b> c3 0f 1f 80 00 00 00 00 83 e2 39 83 fa 08 75 de e8 23 ff ff ff [ 44.546523] RSP: 002b:00007ffeae4a7930 EFLAGS: 00000202 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000012 [ 44.546523] RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00007f4299934740 RCX: 00007f42999c6687 [ 44.546523] RDX: 0000000000000001 RSI: 000055ea6149200f RDI: 0000000000000003 [ 44.546523] RBP: 00007ffeae4a79a0 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000 [ 44.546523] R10: 0000010000000005 R11: 0000000000000202 R12: 0000 ---truncated--- Weakness: CWE-190 (Integer Overflow or Wraparound) ## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38222? It affects 2 products. Products: Debian Debian Linux, Linux kernel. ## How do I fix CVE-2025-38222? Apply the vendor's patch. ## Is CVE-2025-38222 being exploited? There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38222 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-2025-38222 and fix it if it is affected. What it is: CVE-2025-38222 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 4 Jul 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-2025-38222 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-2025-38222/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38222/index.md) ``` ## Sources - CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38222 - NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38222 - OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-38222 --- From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38222/ Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.