# CVE-2025-71201: netfs: Fix early read unlock of page with EOF in middle

> A race condition in the Linux kernel netfs subsystem allows local attackers to read uncleared memory via mmap due to premature page unlocking.

- **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:** 14 Feb 2026
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2025-71201, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-71201, GHSA-58pr-f4q3-x425, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-71201

## What is CVE-2025-71201?

CVE-2025-71201 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 14 Feb 2026. 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:

netfs: Fix early read unlock of page with EOF in middle

The read result collection for buffered reads seems to run ahead of the
completion of subrequests under some circumstances, as can be seen in the
following log snippet:

    9p_client_res: client 18446612686390831168 response P9_TREAD tag  0 err 0
    ...
    netfs_sreq: R=00001b55[1] DOWN TERM  f=192 s=0 5fb2/5fb2 s=5 e=0
    ...
    netfs_collect_folio: R=00001b55 ix=00004 r=4000-5000 t=4000/5fb2
    netfs_folio: i=157f3 ix=00004-00004 read-done
    netfs_folio: i=157f3 ix=00004-00004 read-unlock
    netfs_collect_folio: R=00001b55 ix=00005 r=5000-5fb2 t=5000/5fb2
    netfs_folio: i=157f3 ix=00005-00005 read-done
    netfs_folio: i=157f3 ix=00005-00005 read-unlock
    ...
    netfs_collect_stream: R=00001b55[0:] cto=5fb2 frn=ffffffff
    netfs_collect_state: R=00001b55 col=5fb2 cln=6000 n=c
    netfs_collect_stream: R=00001b55[0:] cto=5fb2 frn=ffffffff
    netfs_collect_state: R=00001b55 col=5fb2 cln=6000 n=8
    ...
    netfs_sreq: R=00001b55[2] ZERO SUBMT f=000 s=5fb2 0/4e s=0 e=0
    netfs_sreq: R=00001b55[2] ZERO TERM  f=102 s=5fb2 4e/4e s=5 e=0

The 'cto=5fb2' indicates the collected file pos we've collected results to
so far - but we still have 0x4e more bytes to go - so we shouldn't have
collected folio ix=00005 yet.  The 'ZERO' subreq that clears the tail
happens after we unlock the folio, allowing the application to see the
uncleared tail through mmap.

The problem is that netfs_read_unlock_folios() will unlock a folio in which
the amount of read results collected hits EOF position - but the ZERO
subreq lies beyond that and so happens after.

Fix this by changing the end check to always be the end of the folio and
never the end of the file.

In the future, I should look at clearing to the end of the folio here rather
than adding a ZERO subreq to do this.  On the other hand, the ZERO subreq can
run in parallel with an async READ subreq.  Further, the ZERO subreq may still
be necessary to, say, handle extents in a ceph file that don't have any
backing store and are thus implicitly all zeros.

This can be reproduced by creating a file, the size of which doesn't align
to a page boundary, e.g. 24998 (0x5fb2) bytes and then doing something
like:

    xfs_io -c "mmap -r 0 0x6000" -c "madvise -d 0 0x6000" \
           -c "mread -v 0 0x6000" /xfstest.test/x

The last 0x4e bytes should all be 00, but if the tail hasn't been cleared
yet, you may see rubbish there.  This can be reproduced with kafs by
modifying the kernel to disable the call to netfs_read_subreq_progress()
and to stop afs_issue_read() from doing the async call for NETFS_READAHEAD.
Reproduction can be made easier by inserting an mdelay(100) in
netfs_issue_read() for the ZERO-subreq case.

AFS and CIFS are normally unlikely to show this as they dispatch READ ops
asynchronously, which allows the ZERO-subreq to finish first.  9P's READ op is
completely synchronous, so the ZERO-subreq will always happen after.  It isn't
seen all the time, though, because the collection may be done in a worker
thread.

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

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-71201?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-71201?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-71201 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-71201 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-2025-71201 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-71201 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 14 Feb 2026. 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-2025-71201 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-2025-71201/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-71201/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-71201
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-71201
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-71201

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-71201/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.
