Medium severity · published Sep 4, 2025
CVE-2025-38691
pNFS: Fix uninited ptr deref in block/scsi layout
5.5
CVSS
0.2%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
pNFS: Fix uninited ptr deref in block/scsi layout
The error occurs on the third attempt to encode extents. When function
ext_tree_prepare_commit() reallocates a larger buffer to retry encoding
extents, the "layoutupdate_pages" page array is initialized only after the
retry loop. But ext_tree_free_commitdata() is called on every iteration
and tries to put pages in the array, thus dereferencing uninitialized
pointers.
An additional problem is that there is no limit on the maximum possible
buffer_size. When there are too many extents, the client may create a
layoutcommit that is larger than the maximum possible RPC size accepted
by the server.
During testing, we observed two typical scenarios. First, one memory page
for extents is enough when we work with small files, append data to the
end of the file, or preallocate extents before writing. But when we fill
a new large file without preallocating, the number of extents can be huge,
and counting the number of written extents in ext_tree_encode_commit()
does not help much. Since this number increases even more between
unlocking and locking of ext_tree, the reallocated buffer may not be
large enough again and again.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.2% · higher than 8% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
KE
Kernel · Linux
3.18 before 5.4.297; 5.5 before 5.10.241; 5.11 before 5.15.190; 5.16 before 6.1.149; 6.2 before 6.6.103; 6.7 before 6.12.43; +2 more · source: NVD
LI
Linux · Linux
34dc93c2fc04da0d01acf8a1660b4ab276208af7 before 579b85f893d9885162e1cabf99a4a088916e143e; 34dc93c2fc04da0d01acf8a1660b4ab276208af7 before 2896f101110076ac6bf99d7aaf463d61e26f89dd; 34dc93c2fc04da0d01acf8a1660b4ab276208af7 before 4f783333cbfa2ee7d4aa8e47f6bd1b3f77534fcf; 34dc93c2fc04da0d01acf8a1660b4ab276208af7 before 9be5c04beca3202d0a5f09fb4b2ecb644caa0bc5; 34dc93c2fc04da0d01acf8a1660b4ab276208af7 before 24334f3cf8a294f253071b5bf22d754dbb6d0f2d; 34dc93c2fc04da0d01acf8a1660b4ab276208af7 before f0b2eee3fbba9b7e3746ef698424ef5e4a197776; +4 more · source: vendor
DL
Debian Linux · Debian
11.0 · source: NVD
SC
SIMATIC CN 4100 · Siemens
before V5.0 · source: CISA
SS
SIMATIC S7-1500 CPU 1518-4 PN/DP MFP · Siemens
V3.1.5; V3.1.5 · source: CISA
SS
SIMATIC S7-1500 CPU 1518F-4 PN/DP MFP · Siemens
V3.1.5; V3.1.5 · source: CISA
SS
SIPLUS S7-1500 CPU 1518-4 PN/DP MFP · Siemens
V3.1.5 · source: CISA
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38691
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-38691
Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/24334f3cf8a294f253071b5bf22d754dbb6d0f2d
Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2896f101110076ac6bf99d7aaf463d61e26f89dd
Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/37c3443a2685528f972d910a6fb87716b96fef46
Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4f783333cbfa2ee7d4aa8e47f6bd1b3f77534fcf
Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/579b85f893d9885162e1cabf99a4a088916e143e
Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/94ec6d939031a616474376dadbf4a8d0ef8b0bcc
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