# CVE-2025-38652: f2fs: fix to avoid out-of-boundary access in devs.path

> A local attacker can cause an out-of-bounds read in the Linux kernel f2fs filesystem by mounting a crafted image with a long device path, leading to a denial of service.

- **Severity:** High 7.3 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 22 Aug 2025
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-66596, BELL-CVE-2025-38652, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38652, GHSA-x5pr-3426-w9ph, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2025-38652, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-38652, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2025-38652, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-38652, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-38652, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38652, openSUSE-SU-2025:15533-1

## What is CVE-2025-38652?

CVE-2025-38652 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 22 Aug 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

f2fs: fix to avoid out-of-boundary access in devs.path

- touch /mnt/f2fs/012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123
- truncate -s $((1024*1024*1024)) \
  /mnt/f2fs/012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123
- touch /mnt/f2fs/file
- truncate -s $((1024*1024*1024)) /mnt/f2fs/file
- mkfs.f2fs /mnt/f2fs/012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123 \
  -c /mnt/f2fs/file
- mount /mnt/f2fs/012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123 \
  /mnt/f2fs/loop

[16937.192225] F2FS-fs (loop0): Mount Device [ 0]: /mnt/f2fs/012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123\xff\x01,      511,        0 -    3ffff
[16937.192268] F2FS-fs (loop0): Failed to find devices

If device path length equals to MAX_PATH_LEN, sbi->devs.path[] may
not end up w/ null character due to path array is fully filled, So
accidently, fields locate after path[] may be treated as part of
device path, result in parsing wrong device path.

struct f2fs_dev_info {
...
	char path[MAX_PATH_LEN];
...
};

Let's add one byte space for sbi->devs.path[] to store null
character of device path string.

Weakness: CWE-125 (Out-of-bounds Read)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38652?

It affects 2 products.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `kernel-source` | openSUSE:Tumbleweed | All versions | 6.16.5-1.1 |

Products: Debian Debian Linux, Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-38652?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-38652 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38652 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-2025-38652 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-38652 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 22 Aug 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38652 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-2025-38652/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38652/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38652
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38652
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-38652

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38652/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.