# CVE-2025-40088: hfsplus: fix slab-out-of-bounds read in hfsplus_strcasecmp() > A slab-out-of-bounds read in the Linux kernel's HFS+ filesystem driver 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:** 30 Oct 2025 - **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026 - **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2025-40088, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-40088, GHSA-9gj3-hmj4-wf3x, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2025-40088, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-40088, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2025-40088, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-40088, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-40088, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-40088 ## What is CVE-2025-40088? CVE-2025-40088 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 30 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_strcasecmp() The hfsplus_strcasecmp() logic can trigger the issue: [ 117.317703][ T9855] ================================================================== [ 117.318353][ T9855] BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in hfsplus_strcasecmp+0x1bc/0x490 [ 117.318991][ T9855] Read of size 2 at addr ffff88802160f40c by task repro/9855 [ 117.319577][ T9855] [ 117.319773][ T9855] CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 9855 Comm: repro Not tainted 6.17.0-rc6 #33 PREEMPT(full) [ 117.319780][ T9855] Hardware name: QEMU Ubuntu 24.04 PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.16.3-debian-1.16.3-2 04/01/2014 [ 117.319783][ T9855] Call Trace: [ 117.319785][ T9855] [ 117.319788][ T9855] dump_stack_lvl+0x1c1/0x2a0 [ 117.319795][ T9855] ? __virt_addr_valid+0x1c8/0x5c0 [ 117.319803][ T9855] ? __pfx_dump_stack_lvl+0x10/0x10 [ 117.319808][ T9855] ? rcu_is_watching+0x15/0xb0 [ 117.319816][ T9855] ? lock_release+0x4b/0x3e0 [ 117.319821][ T9855] ? __kasan_check_byte+0x12/0x40 [ 117.319828][ T9855] ? __virt_addr_valid+0x1c8/0x5c0 [ 117.319835][ T9855] ? __virt_addr_valid+0x4a5/0x5c0 [ 117.319842][ T9855] print_report+0x17e/0x7e0 [ 117.319848][ T9855] ? __virt_addr_valid+0x1c8/0x5c0 [ 117.319855][ T9855] ? __virt_addr_valid+0x4a5/0x5c0 [ 117.319862][ T9855] ? __phys_addr+0xd3/0x180 [ 117.319869][ T9855] ? hfsplus_strcasecmp+0x1bc/0x490 [ 117.319876][ T9855] kasan_report+0x147/0x180 [ 117.319882][ T9855] ? hfsplus_strcasecmp+0x1bc/0x490 [ 117.319891][ T9855] hfsplus_strcasecmp+0x1bc/0x490 [ 117.319900][ T9855] ? __pfx_hfsplus_cat_case_cmp_key+0x10/0x10 [ 117.319906][ T9855] hfs_find_rec_by_key+0xa9/0x1e0 [ 117.319913][ T9855] __hfsplus_brec_find+0x18e/0x470 [ 117.319920][ T9855] ? __pfx_hfsplus_bnode_find+0x10/0x10 [ 117.319926][ T9855] ? __pfx_hfs_find_rec_by_key+0x10/0x10 [ 117.319933][ T9855] ? __pfx___hfsplus_brec_find+0x10/0x10 [ 117.319942][ T9855] hfsplus_brec_find+0x28f/0x510 [ 117.319949][ T9855] ? __pfx_hfs_find_rec_by_key+0x10/0x10 [ 117.319956][ T9855] ? __pfx_hfsplus_brec_find+0x10/0x10 [ 117.319963][ T9855] ? __kmalloc_noprof+0x2a9/0x510 [ 117.319969][ T9855] ? hfsplus_find_init+0x8c/0x1d0 [ 117.319976][ T9855] hfsplus_brec_read+0x2b/0x120 [ 117.319983][ T9855] hfsplus_lookup+0x2aa/0x890 [ 117.319990][ T9855] ? __pfx_hfsplus_lookup+0x10/0x10 [ 117.320003][ T9855] ? d_alloc_parallel+0x2f0/0x15e0 [ 117.320008][ T9855] ? __lock_acquire+0xaec/0xd80 [ 117.320013][ T9855] ? __pfx_d_alloc_parallel+0x10/0x10 [ 117.320019][ T9855] ? __raw_spin_lock_init+0x45/0x100 [ 117.320026][ T9855] ? __init_waitqueue_head+0xa9/0x150 [ 117.320034][ T9855] __lookup_slow+0x297/0x3d0 [ 117.320039][ T9855] ? __pfx___lookup_slow+0x10/0x10 [ 117.320045][ T9855] ? down_read+0x1ad/0x2e0 [ 117.320055][ T9855] lookup_slow+0x53/0x70 [ 117.320065][ T9855] walk_component+0x2f0/0x430 [ 117.320073][ T9855] path_lookupat+0x169/0x440 [ 117.320081][ T9855] filename_lookup+0x212/0x590 [ 117.320089][ T9855] ? __pfx_filename_lookup+0x10/0x10 [ 117.320098][ T9855] ? strncpy_from_user+0x150/0x290 [ 117.320105][ T9855] ? getname_flags+0x1e5/0x540 [ 117.320112][ T9855] user_path_at+0x3a/0x60 [ 117.320117][ T9855] __x64_sys_umount+0xee/0x160 [ 117.320123][ T9855] ? __pfx___x64_sys_umount+0x10/0x10 [ 117.320129][ T9855] ? do_syscall_64+0xb7/0x3a0 [ 117.320135][ T9855] ? entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f [ 117.320141][ T9855] ? entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f [ 117.320145][ T9855] do_syscall_64+0xf3/0x3a0 [ 117.320150][ T9855] ? exc_page_fault+0x9f/0xf0 [ 117.320154][ T9855] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f [ 117.320158][ T9855] RIP: 0033:0x7f7dd7908b07 [ 117.320163][ T9855] Code: 23 0d 00 f7 d8 64 89 01 48 83 c8 ff c3 66 0f 1f 44 00 00 31 f6 e9 09 00 00 00 66 0f 1f 84 00 00 08 [ 117.320167][ T9855] RSP: 002b:00007ffd5ebd9698 EFLAGS: 00000202 ---truncated--- ## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-40088? ## How do I fix CVE-2025-40088? Apply the vendor's patch. ## Is CVE-2025-40088 being exploited? There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-40088 in the wild and no public exploit code. ## Fix prompt for AI coding agents ```text Check this codebase for CVE-2025-40088 and fix it if it is affected. What it is: CVE-2025-40088 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 30 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-2025-40088 in the wild and no public exploit code. Affected product: 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-2025-40088/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-40088/index.md) ``` ## Sources - CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-40088 - NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-40088 - OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-40088 --- From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-40088/ Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.