CVE-2025-38269 btrfs: exit after state insertion failure at btrfs_convert_extent_bit()

What is CVE-2025-38269?

CVE-2025-38269 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 10 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:

btrfs: exit after state insertion failure at btrfs_convert_extent_bit()

If insert_state() state failed it returns an error pointer and we call extent_io_tree_panic() which will trigger a BUG() call. However if CONFIG_BUG is disabled, which is an uncommon and exotic scenario, then we fallthrough and call cache_state() which will dereference the error pointer, resulting in an invalid memory access.

So jump to the 'out' label after calling extent_io_tree_panic(), it also makes the code more clear besides dealing with the exotic scenario where CONFIG_BUG is disabled.

Weakness: CWE-476

Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38269?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2025-38269?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2025-38269 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38269 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

• CVE-2026-53266 Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2013-6282 Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2022-0185 Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2013-2094 Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2026-53362 Linux Kernel Unspecified Exploited High 7.8

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as AZL-65004, AZL-70651, BELL-CVE-2025-38269, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38269, GHSA-7rq4-pc5w-9jq7, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2025-38269 and 4 more.