# CVE-2025-40082: hfsplus: fix slab-out-of-bounds read in hfsplus_uni2asc()

> A slab-out-of-bounds read in the Linux kernel's HFS+ filesystem allows attackers to cause a denial of service or leak sensitive memory information.

- **Severity:** High 7.1 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/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:** 28 Oct 2025
- **Updated:** 15 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-78488, BELL-CVE-2025-40082, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-40082, GHSA-r76g-qww9-ch8r, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2025-40082, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-40082, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2025-40082, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-40082, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40082

## What is CVE-2025-40082?

CVE-2025-40082 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 28 Oct 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:

hfsplus: fix slab-out-of-bounds read in hfsplus_uni2asc()

BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in hfsplus_uni2asc+0xa71/0xb90 fs/hfsplus/unicode.c:186
Read of size 2 at addr ffff8880289ef218 by task syz.6.248/14290

CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 14290 Comm: syz.6.248 Not tainted 6.16.4 #1 PREEMPT(full)
Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.15.0-1 04/01/2014
Call Trace:
 <TASK>
 __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:94 [inline]
 dump_stack_lvl+0x116/0x1b0 lib/dump_stack.c:120
 print_address_description mm/kasan/report.c:378 [inline]
 print_report+0xca/0x5f0 mm/kasan/report.c:482
 kasan_report+0xca/0x100 mm/kasan/report.c:595
 hfsplus_uni2asc+0xa71/0xb90 fs/hfsplus/unicode.c:186
 hfsplus_listxattr+0x5b6/0xbd0 fs/hfsplus/xattr.c:738
 vfs_listxattr+0xbe/0x140 fs/xattr.c:493
 listxattr+0xee/0x190 fs/xattr.c:924
 filename_listxattr fs/xattr.c:958 [inline]
 path_listxattrat+0x143/0x360 fs/xattr.c:988
 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline]
 do_syscall_64+0xcb/0x4c0 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94
 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f
RIP: 0033:0x7fe0e9fae16d
Code: 02 b8 ff ff ff ff c3 66 0f 1f 44 00 00 f3 0f 1e fa 48 89 f8 48 89 f7 48 89 d6 48 89 ca 4d 89 c2 4d 89 c8 4c 8b 4c 24 08 0f 05 <48> 3d 01 f0 ff ff 73 01 c3 48 c7 c1 a8 ff ff ff f7 d8 64 89 01 48
RSP: 002b:00007fe0eae67f98 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 00000000000000c3
RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00007fe0ea205fa0 RCX: 00007fe0e9fae16d
RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: 0000200000000000
RBP: 00007fe0ea0480f0 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000
R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 0000000000000000
R13: 00007fe0ea206038 R14: 00007fe0ea205fa0 R15: 00007fe0eae48000
 </TASK>

Allocated by task 14290:
 kasan_save_stack+0x24/0x50 mm/kasan/common.c:47
 kasan_save_track+0x14/0x30 mm/kasan/common.c:68
 poison_kmalloc_redzone mm/kasan/common.c:377 [inline]
 __kasan_kmalloc+0xaa/0xb0 mm/kasan/common.c:394
 kasan_kmalloc include/linux/kasan.h:260 [inline]
 __do_kmalloc_node mm/slub.c:4333 [inline]
 __kmalloc_noprof+0x219/0x540 mm/slub.c:4345
 kmalloc_noprof include/linux/slab.h:909 [inline]
 hfsplus_find_init+0x95/0x1f0 fs/hfsplus/bfind.c:21
 hfsplus_listxattr+0x331/0xbd0 fs/hfsplus/xattr.c:697
 vfs_listxattr+0xbe/0x140 fs/xattr.c:493
 listxattr+0xee/0x190 fs/xattr.c:924
 filename_listxattr fs/xattr.c:958 [inline]
 path_listxattrat+0x143/0x360 fs/xattr.c:988
 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline]
 do_syscall_64+0xcb/0x4c0 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94
 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f

When hfsplus_uni2asc is called from hfsplus_listxattr,
it actually passes in a struct hfsplus_attr_unistr*.
The size of the corresponding structure is different from that of hfsplus_unistr,
so the previous fix (94458781aee6) is insufficient.
The pointer on the unicode buffer is still going beyond the allocated memory.

This patch introduces two warpper functions hfsplus_uni2asc_xattr_str and
hfsplus_uni2asc_str to process two unicode buffers,
struct hfsplus_attr_unistr* and struct hfsplus_unistr* respectively.
When ustrlen value is bigger than the allocated memory size,
the ustrlen value is limited to an safe size.

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

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-40082?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-40082?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-40082 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-40082 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-2025-40082 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-40082 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 28 Oct 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-2025-40082 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-2025-40082/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-40082/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-40082
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-40082
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-40082

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-40082/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.