# CVE-2025-38577: f2fs: fix to avoid panic in f2fs_evict_inode

> A use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel's f2fs filesystem can cause a system panic, leading to denial of service.

- **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:** 19 Aug 2025
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-66473, BELL-CVE-2025-38577, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38577, GHSA-6fm3-hv4h-3737, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2025-38577, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-38577, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2025-38577, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-38577, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-38577, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38577

## What is CVE-2025-38577?

CVE-2025-38577 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 19 Aug 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:

f2fs: fix to avoid panic in f2fs_evict_inode

As syzbot [1] reported as below:

R10: 0000000000000100 R11: 0000000000000206 R12: 00007ffe17473450
R13: 00007f28b1c10854 R14: 000000000000dae5 R15: 00007ffe17474520
 </TASK>
---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---
==================================================================
BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in __list_del_entry_valid+0xa6/0x130 lib/list_debug.c:62
Read of size 8 at addr ffff88812d962278 by task syz-executor/564

CPU: 1 PID: 564 Comm: syz-executor Tainted: G        W          6.1.129-syzkaller #0
Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 02/12/2025
Call Trace:
 <TASK>
 __dump_stack+0x21/0x24 lib/dump_stack.c:88
 dump_stack_lvl+0xee/0x158 lib/dump_stack.c:106
 print_address_description+0x71/0x210 mm/kasan/report.c:316
 print_report+0x4a/0x60 mm/kasan/report.c:427
 kasan_report+0x122/0x150 mm/kasan/report.c:531
 __asan_report_load8_noabort+0x14/0x20 mm/kasan/report_generic.c:351
 __list_del_entry_valid+0xa6/0x130 lib/list_debug.c:62
 __list_del_entry include/linux/list.h:134 [inline]
 list_del_init include/linux/list.h:206 [inline]
 f2fs_inode_synced+0xf7/0x2e0 fs/f2fs/super.c:1531
 f2fs_update_inode+0x74/0x1c40 fs/f2fs/inode.c:585
 f2fs_update_inode_page+0x137/0x170 fs/f2fs/inode.c:703
 f2fs_write_inode+0x4ec/0x770 fs/f2fs/inode.c:731
 write_inode fs/fs-writeback.c:1460 [inline]
 __writeback_single_inode+0x4a0/0xab0 fs/fs-writeback.c:1677
 writeback_single_inode+0x221/0x8b0 fs/fs-writeback.c:1733
 sync_inode_metadata+0xb6/0x110 fs/fs-writeback.c:2789
 f2fs_sync_inode_meta+0x16d/0x2a0 fs/f2fs/checkpoint.c:1159
 block_operations fs/f2fs/checkpoint.c:1269 [inline]
 f2fs_write_checkpoint+0xca3/0x2100 fs/f2fs/checkpoint.c:1658
 kill_f2fs_super+0x231/0x390 fs/f2fs/super.c:4668
 deactivate_locked_super+0x98/0x100 fs/super.c:332
 deactivate_super+0xaf/0xe0 fs/super.c:363
 cleanup_mnt+0x45f/0x4e0 fs/namespace.c:1186
 __cleanup_mnt+0x19/0x20 fs/namespace.c:1193
 task_work_run+0x1c6/0x230 kernel/task_work.c:203
 exit_task_work include/linux/task_work.h:39 [inline]
 do_exit+0x9fb/0x2410 kernel/exit.c:871
 do_group_exit+0x210/0x2d0 kernel/exit.c:1021
 __do_sys_exit_group kernel/exit.c:1032 [inline]
 __se_sys_exit_group kernel/exit.c:1030 [inline]
 __x64_sys_exit_group+0x3f/0x40 kernel/exit.c:1030
 x64_sys_call+0x7b4/0x9a0 arch/x86/include/generated/asm/syscalls_64.h:232
 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:51 [inline]
 do_syscall_64+0x4c/0xa0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:81
 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x68/0xd2
RIP: 0033:0x7f28b1b8e169
Code: Unable to access opcode bytes at 0x7f28b1b8e13f.
RSP: 002b:00007ffe174710a8 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 00000000000000e7
RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00007f28b1c10879 RCX: 00007f28b1b8e169
RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: 0000000000000001
RBP: 0000000000000002 R08: 00007ffe1746ee47 R09: 00007ffe17472360
R10: 0000000000000009 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 00007ffe17472360
R13: 00007f28b1c10854 R14: 000000000000dae5 R15: 00007ffe17474520
 </TASK>

Allocated by task 569:
 kasan_save_stack mm/kasan/common.c:45 [inline]
 kasan_set_track+0x4b/0x70 mm/kasan/common.c:52
 kasan_save_alloc_info+0x25/0x30 mm/kasan/generic.c:505
 __kasan_slab_alloc+0x72/0x80 mm/kasan/common.c:328
 kasan_slab_alloc include/linux/kasan.h:201 [inline]
 slab_post_alloc_hook+0x4f/0x2c0 mm/slab.h:737
 slab_alloc_node mm/slub.c:3398 [inline]
 slab_alloc mm/slub.c:3406 [inline]
 __kmem_cache_alloc_lru mm/slub.c:3413 [inline]
 kmem_cache_alloc_lru+0x104/0x220 mm/slub.c:3429
 alloc_inode_sb include/linux/fs.h:3245 [inline]
 f2fs_alloc_inode+0x2d/0x340 fs/f2fs/super.c:1419
 alloc_inode fs/inode.c:261 [inline]
 iget_locked+0x186/0x880 fs/inode.c:1373
 f2fs_iget+0x55/0x4c60 fs/f2fs/inode.c:483
 f2fs_lookup+0x366/0xab0 fs/f2fs/namei.c:487
 __lookup_slow+0x2a3/0x3d0 fs/namei.c:1690
 lookup_slow+0x57/0x70 fs/namei.c:1707
 walk_component+0x2e6/0x410 fs/namei
---truncated---

Weakness: CWE-416 (Use After Free)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38577?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Debian Debian Linux, Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-38577?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-38577 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38577 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-2025-38577 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-38577 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 19 Aug 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-2025-38577 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-2025-38577/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38577/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38577
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38577
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-38577

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38577/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.
