ext4: only dirty folios when data journaling regular files
fstest generic/388 occasionally reproduces a crash that looks as
follows:
BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000
...
Call Trace:
<TASK>
ext4_block_zero_page_range+0x30c/0x380 [ext4]
ext4_truncate+0x436/0x440 [ext4]
ext4_process_orphan+0x5d/0x110 [ext4]
ext4_orphan_cleanup+0x124/0x4f0 [ext4]
ext4_fill_super+0x262d/0x3110 [ext4]
get_tree_bdev_flags+0x132/0x1d0
vfs_get_tree+0x26/0xd0
vfs_cmd_create+0x59/0xe0
__do_sys_fsconfig+0x4ed/0x6b0
do_syscall_64+0x82/0x170
...
This occurs when processing a symlink inode from the orphan list. The
partial block zeroing code in the truncate path calls
ext4_dirty_journalled_data() -> folio_mark_dirty(). The latter calls
mapping->a_ops->dirty_folio(), but symlink inodes are not assigned an
a_ops vector in ext4, hence the crash.
To avoid this problem, update the ext4_dirty_journalled_data() helper to
only mark the folio dirty on regular files (for which a_ops is
assigned). This also matches the journaling logic in the ext4_symlink()
creation path, where ext4_handle_dirty_metadata() is called directly.
Analysis and contextual insights are available on OpenCVE Cloud.
No vendor fix or workaround currently provided.
Additional remediation guidance may be available on OpenCVE Cloud.
Tracking
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| Source | ID | Title |
|---|---|---|
EUVD |
EUVD-2025-20036 | In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: only dirty folios when data journaling regular files fstest generic/388 occasionally reproduces a crash that looks as follows: BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000 ... Call Trace: <TASK> ext4_block_zero_page_range+0x30c/0x380 [ext4] ext4_truncate+0x436/0x440 [ext4] ext4_process_orphan+0x5d/0x110 [ext4] ext4_orphan_cleanup+0x124/0x4f0 [ext4] ext4_fill_super+0x262d/0x3110 [ext4] get_tree_bdev_flags+0x132/0x1d0 vfs_get_tree+0x26/0xd0 vfs_cmd_create+0x59/0xe0 __do_sys_fsconfig+0x4ed/0x6b0 do_syscall_64+0x82/0x170 ... This occurs when processing a symlink inode from the orphan list. The partial block zeroing code in the truncate path calls ext4_dirty_journalled_data() -> folio_mark_dirty(). The latter calls mapping->a_ops->dirty_folio(), but symlink inodes are not assigned an a_ops vector in ext4, hence the crash. To avoid this problem, update the ext4_dirty_journalled_data() helper to only mark the folio dirty on regular files (for which a_ops is assigned). This also matches the journaling logic in the ext4_symlink() creation path, where ext4_handle_dirty_metadata() is called directly. |
Ubuntu USN |
USN-7833-1 | Linux kernel vulnerabilities |
Ubuntu USN |
USN-7834-1 | Linux kernel (Azure) vulnerabilities |
Ubuntu USN |
USN-7833-2 | Linux kernel (Real-time) vulnerabilities |
Ubuntu USN |
USN-7833-3 | Linux kernel (AWS) vulnerabilities |
Ubuntu USN |
USN-7833-4 | Linux kernel (GCP) vulnerabilities |
Ubuntu USN |
USN-7856-1 | Linux kernel (HWE) vulnerabilities |
Ubuntu USN |
USN-8028-1 | Linux kernel vulnerabilities |
Ubuntu USN |
USN-8028-2 | Linux kernel (Real-time) vulnerabilities |
Ubuntu USN |
USN-8031-1 | Linux kernel (GCP) vulnerabilities |
Ubuntu USN |
USN-8028-3 | Linux kernel (Real-time) vulnerabilities |
Ubuntu USN |
USN-8028-4 | Linux kernel (FIPS) vulnerabilities |
Ubuntu USN |
USN-8028-5 | Linux kernel vulnerabilities |
Ubuntu USN |
USN-8031-2 | Linux kernel (GCP FIPS) vulnerabilities |
Ubuntu USN |
USN-8028-6 | Linux kernel (HWE) vulnerabilities |
Ubuntu USN |
USN-8031-3 | Linux kernel vulnerabilities |
Ubuntu USN |
USN-8052-1 | Linux kernel (Low Latency) vulnerabilities |
Ubuntu USN |
USN-8028-7 | Linux kernel (Low Latency NVIDIA) vulnerabilities |
Ubuntu USN |
USN-8028-8 | Linux kernel (IBM) vulnerabilities |
Ubuntu USN |
USN-8052-2 | Linux kernel (Xilinx) vulnerabilities |
Ubuntu USN |
USN-8074-1 | Linux kernel (Azure) vulnerabilities |
Ubuntu USN |
USN-8074-2 | Linux kernel (Azure FIPS) vulnerabilities |
Ubuntu USN |
USN-8126-1 | Linux kernel (Azure) vulnerabilities |
Tue, 18 Nov 2025 15:30:00 +0000
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
|---|---|---|
| Weaknesses | CWE-476 | |
| CPEs | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | |
| Metrics |
cvssV3_1
|
cvssV3_1
|
Sun, 06 Jul 2025 12:30:00 +0000
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
|---|---|---|
| References |
| |
| Metrics |
threat_severity
|
cvssV3_1
|
Fri, 04 Jul 2025 13:45:00 +0000
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
|---|---|---|
| Description | In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: only dirty folios when data journaling regular files fstest generic/388 occasionally reproduces a crash that looks as follows: BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000 ... Call Trace: <TASK> ext4_block_zero_page_range+0x30c/0x380 [ext4] ext4_truncate+0x436/0x440 [ext4] ext4_process_orphan+0x5d/0x110 [ext4] ext4_orphan_cleanup+0x124/0x4f0 [ext4] ext4_fill_super+0x262d/0x3110 [ext4] get_tree_bdev_flags+0x132/0x1d0 vfs_get_tree+0x26/0xd0 vfs_cmd_create+0x59/0xe0 __do_sys_fsconfig+0x4ed/0x6b0 do_syscall_64+0x82/0x170 ... This occurs when processing a symlink inode from the orphan list. The partial block zeroing code in the truncate path calls ext4_dirty_journalled_data() -> folio_mark_dirty(). The latter calls mapping->a_ops->dirty_folio(), but symlink inodes are not assigned an a_ops vector in ext4, hence the crash. To avoid this problem, update the ext4_dirty_journalled_data() helper to only mark the folio dirty on regular files (for which a_ops is assigned). This also matches the journaling logic in the ext4_symlink() creation path, where ext4_handle_dirty_metadata() is called directly. | |
| Title | ext4: only dirty folios when data journaling regular files | |
| References |
|
Status: PUBLISHED
Assigner: Linux
Published:
Updated: 2026-05-11T21:23:33.613Z
Reserved: 2025-04-16T04:51:23.995Z
Link: CVE-2025-38220
No data.
Status : Analyzed
Published: 2025-07-04T14:15:30.597
Modified: 2025-11-18T15:17:07.557
Link: CVE-2025-38220
OpenCVE Enrichment
Updated: 2025-07-13T21:47:57Z
EUVD
Ubuntu USN