# CVE-2025-38701: ext4: do not BUG when INLINE_DATA_FL lacks system.data xattr

> A maliciously crafted filesystem image can trigger a kernel BUG_ON crash in ext4, causing a denial of service.

- **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:** 4 Sep 2025
- **Updated:** 15 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-66899, AZL-73881, BELL-CVE-2025-38701, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-38701, GHSA-x687-v76r-f9gw, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2025-38701, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-38701, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-38701, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-38701, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-38701

## What is CVE-2025-38701?

CVE-2025-38701 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 4 Sep 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:

ext4: do not BUG when INLINE_DATA_FL lacks system.data xattr

A syzbot fuzzed image triggered a BUG_ON in ext4_update_inline_data()
when an inode had the INLINE_DATA_FL flag set but was missing the
system.data extended attribute.

Since this can happen due to a maiciouly fuzzed file system, we
shouldn't BUG, but rather, report it as a corrupted file system.

Add similar replacements of BUG_ON with EXT4_ERROR_INODE() ii
ext4_create_inline_data() and ext4_inline_data_truncate().

Weakness: CWE-617 (Reachable Assertion)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-38701?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Debian Debian Linux, Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-38701?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-38701 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-38701 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-2025-38701 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-38701 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 4 Sep 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-2025-38701 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-2025-38701/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38701/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38701
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38701
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-38701

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38701/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.