# CVE-2025-38328: jffs2: check jffs2_prealloc_raw_node_refs() result in few other places

> A missing check in the JFFS2 filesystem code allows a local attacker to trigger a null pointer dereference, causing a kernel crash.

- **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:** 10 Jul 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2025-38328, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38328, GHSA-c9vq-35q7-jqh2, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2025-38328, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-38328, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-38328, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-38328, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38328

## What is CVE-2025-38328?

CVE-2025-38328 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, 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:

jffs2: check jffs2_prealloc_raw_node_refs() result in few other places

Fuzzing hit another invalid pointer dereference due to the lack of
checking whether jffs2_prealloc_raw_node_refs() completed successfully.
Subsequent logic implies that the node refs have been allocated.

Handle that. The code is ready for propagating the error upwards.

KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000008-0x000000000000000f]
CPU: 1 PID: 5835 Comm: syz-executor145 Not tainted 5.10.234-syzkaller #0
Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.12.0-1 04/01/2014
RIP: 0010:jffs2_link_node_ref+0xac/0x690 fs/jffs2/nodelist.c:600
Call Trace:
 jffs2_mark_erased_block fs/jffs2/erase.c:460 [inline]
 jffs2_erase_pending_blocks+0x688/0x1860 fs/jffs2/erase.c:118
 jffs2_garbage_collect_pass+0x638/0x1a00 fs/jffs2/gc.c:253
 jffs2_reserve_space+0x3f4/0xad0 fs/jffs2/nodemgmt.c:167
 jffs2_write_inode_range+0x246/0xb50 fs/jffs2/write.c:362
 jffs2_write_end+0x712/0x1110 fs/jffs2/file.c:302
 generic_perform_write+0x2c2/0x500 mm/filemap.c:3347
 __generic_file_write_iter+0x252/0x610 mm/filemap.c:3465
 generic_file_write_iter+0xdb/0x230 mm/filemap.c:3497
 call_write_iter include/linux/fs.h:2039 [inline]
 do_iter_readv_writev+0x46d/0x750 fs/read_write.c:740
 do_iter_write+0x18c/0x710 fs/read_write.c:866
 vfs_writev+0x1db/0x6a0 fs/read_write.c:939
 do_pwritev fs/read_write.c:1036 [inline]
 __do_sys_pwritev fs/read_write.c:1083 [inline]
 __se_sys_pwritev fs/read_write.c:1078 [inline]
 __x64_sys_pwritev+0x235/0x310 fs/read_write.c:1078
 do_syscall_64+0x30/0x40 arch/x86/entry/common.c:46
 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x67/0xd1

Found by Linux Verification Center (linuxtesting.org) with Syzkaller.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38328?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Debian Debian Linux, Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-38328?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-38328 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38328 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-2025-38328 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-38328 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 10 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-2025-38328 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-2025-38328/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38328/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38328
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38328
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-38328

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38328/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.