# CVE-2025-38626: f2fs: fix to trigger foreground gc during f2fs_map_blocks() in lfs mode

> A local attacker can cause a system panic in the Linux kernel f2fs filesystem when using LFS mode with concurrent writes.

- **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:** 22 Aug 2025
- **Updated:** 1 Jun 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-66614, BELL-CVE-2025-38626, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38626, GHSA-cr67-qf5c-cf5w, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2025-38626, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-38626, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2025-38626, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-38626, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-38626, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38626

## What is CVE-2025-38626?

CVE-2025-38626 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 22 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 trigger foreground gc during f2fs_map_blocks() in lfs mode

w/ "mode=lfs" mount option, generic/299 will cause system panic as below:

------------[ cut here ]------------
kernel BUG at fs/f2fs/segment.c:2835!
Call Trace:
 <TASK>
 f2fs_allocate_data_block+0x6f4/0xc50
 f2fs_map_blocks+0x970/0x1550
 f2fs_iomap_begin+0xb2/0x1e0
 iomap_iter+0x1d6/0x430
 __iomap_dio_rw+0x208/0x9a0
 f2fs_file_write_iter+0x6b3/0xfa0
 aio_write+0x15d/0x2e0
 io_submit_one+0x55e/0xab0
 __x64_sys_io_submit+0xa5/0x230
 do_syscall_64+0x84/0x2f0
 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e
RIP: 0010:new_curseg+0x70f/0x720

The root cause of we run out-of-space is: in f2fs_map_blocks(), f2fs may
trigger foreground gc only if it allocates any physical block, it will be
a little bit later when there is multiple threads writing data w/
aio/dio/bufio method in parallel, since we always use OPU in lfs mode, so
f2fs_map_blocks() does block allocations aggressively.

In order to fix this issue, let's give a chance to trigger foreground
gc in prior to block allocation in f2fs_map_blocks().

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38626?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-38626?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-38626 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38626 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-2025-38626 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-38626 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 22 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-2025-38626 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-2025-38626/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38626/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38626
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38626
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-38626

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38626/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.