# CVE-2025-38223: ceph: avoid kernel BUG for encrypted inode with unaligned file size

> A local attacker can trigger a kernel BUG and crash the system by accessing encrypted Ceph inodes with unaligned file sizes.

- **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:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2025-38223, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38223, GHSA-3vp6-gw5v-84qw, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38223

## What is CVE-2025-38223?

CVE-2025-38223 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, 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:

ceph: avoid kernel BUG for encrypted inode with unaligned file size

The generic/397 test hits a BUG_ON for the case of encrypted inode with
unaligned file size (for example, 33K or 1K):

[ 877.737811] run fstests generic/397 at 2025-01-03 12:34:40
[ 877.875761] libceph: mon0 (2)127.0.0.1:40674 session established
[ 877.876130] libceph: client4614 fsid 19b90bca-f1ae-47a6-93dd-0b03ee637949
[ 877.991965] libceph: mon0 (2)127.0.0.1:40674 session established
[ 877.992334] libceph: client4617 fsid 19b90bca-f1ae-47a6-93dd-0b03ee637949
[ 878.017234] libceph: mon0 (2)127.0.0.1:40674 session established
[ 878.017594] libceph: client4620 fsid 19b90bca-f1ae-47a6-93dd-0b03ee637949
[ 878.031394] xfs_io (pid 18988) is setting deprecated v1 encryption policy; recommend upgrading to v2.
[ 878.054528] libceph: mon0 (2)127.0.0.1:40674 session established
[ 878.054892] libceph: client4623 fsid 19b90bca-f1ae-47a6-93dd-0b03ee637949
[ 878.070287] libceph: mon0 (2)127.0.0.1:40674 session established
[ 878.070704] libceph: client4626 fsid 19b90bca-f1ae-47a6-93dd-0b03ee637949
[ 878.264586] libceph: mon0 (2)127.0.0.1:40674 session established
[ 878.265258] libceph: client4629 fsid 19b90bca-f1ae-47a6-93dd-0b03ee637949
[ 878.374578] -----------[ cut here ]------------
[ 878.374586] kernel BUG at net/ceph/messenger.c:1070!
[ 878.375150] Oops: invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP NOPTI
[ 878.378145] CPU: 2 UID: 0 PID: 4759 Comm: kworker/2:9 Not tainted 6.13.0-rc5+ #1
[ 878.378969] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.16.3-0-ga6ed6b701f0a-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014
[ 878.380167] Workqueue: ceph-msgr ceph_con_workfn
[ 878.381639] RIP: 0010:ceph_msg_data_cursor_init+0x42/0x50
[ 878.382152] Code: 89 17 48 8b 46 70 55 48 89 47 08 c7 47 18 00 00 00 00 48 89 e5 e8 de cc ff ff 5d 31 c0 31 d2 31 f6 31 ff c3 cc cc cc cc 0f 0b <0f> 0b 0f 0b 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90
[ 878.383928] RSP: 0018:ffffb4ffc7cbbd28 EFLAGS: 00010287
[ 878.384447] RAX: ffffffff82bb9ac0 RBX: ffff981390c2f1f8 RCX: 0000000000000000
[ 878.385129] RDX: 0000000000009000 RSI: ffff981288232b58 RDI: ffff981390c2f378
[ 878.385839] RBP: ffffb4ffc7cbbe18 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000
[ 878.386539] R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ffff981390c2f030
[ 878.387203] R13: ffff981288232b58 R14: 0000000000000029 R15: 0000000000000001
[ 878.387877] FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff9814b7900000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
[ 878.388663] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
[ 878.389212] CR2: 00005e106a0554e0 CR3: 0000000112bf0001 CR4: 0000000000772ef0
[ 878.389921] DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000
[ 878.390620] DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400
[ 878.391307] PKRU: 55555554
[ 878.391567] Call Trace:
[ 878.391807] <TASK>
[ 878.392021] ? show_regs+0x71/0x90
[ 878.392391] ? die+0x38/0xa0
[ 878.392667] ? do_trap+0xdb/0x100
[ 878.392981] ? do_error_trap+0x75/0xb0
[ 878.393372] ? ceph_msg_data_cursor_init+0x42/0x50
[ 878.393842] ? exc_invalid_op+0x53/0x80
[ 878.394232] ? ceph_msg_data_cursor_init+0x42/0x50
[ 878.394694] ? asm_exc_invalid_op+0x1b/0x20
[ 878.395099] ? ceph_msg_data_cursor_init+0x42/0x50
[ 878.395583] ? ceph_con_v2_try_read+0xd16/0x2220
[ 878.396027] ? _raw_spin_unlock+0xe/0x40
[ 878.396428] ? raw_spin_rq_unlock+0x10/0x40
[ 878.396842] ? finish_task_switch.isra.0+0x97/0x310
[ 878.397338] ? __schedule+0x44b/0x16b0
[ 878.397738] ceph_con_workfn+0x326/0x750
[ 878.398121] process_one_work+0x188/0x3d0
[ 878.398522] ? __pfx_worker_thread+0x10/0x10
[ 878.398929] worker_thread+0x2b5/0x3c0
[ 878.399310] ? __pfx_worker_thread+0x10/0x10
[ 878.399727] kthread+0xe1/0x120
[ 878.400031] ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10
[ 878.400431] ret_from_fork+0x43/0x70
[ 878.400771] ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10
[ 878.401127] ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30
[ 878.401543] </TASK>
[ 878.401760] Modules l
---truncated---

Weakness: CWE-617 (Reachable Assertion)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38223?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-38223?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-38223 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38223 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-38223 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-38223 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, 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-2025-38223 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. 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-2025-38223/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38223/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38223
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38223
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-38223

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38223/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.
