CVE-2025-38701: ext4: do not BUG when INLINE_DATA_FL lacks system.data xattr

Severity: medium (CVSS 5.5 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2025-09-04 · updated 2026-10-19
Weakness: CWE-617

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: do not BUG when INLINE_DATA_FL lacks system.data xattr A syzbot fuzzed image triggered a BUG_ON in ext4_update_inline_data() when an inode had the INLINE_DATA_FL flag set but was missing the system.data extended attribute. Since this can happen due to a maiciouly fuzzed file system, we shouldn't BUG, but rather, report it as a corrupted file system. Add similar replacements of BUG_ON with EXT4_ERROR_INODE() ii ext4_create_inline_data() and ext4_inline_data_truncate().

Affected products

Debian Linux: 11.0
Linux kernel: from 3.8 before 5.4.297; from 5.5 before 5.10.241; from 5.11 before 5.15.190; from 5.16 before 6.1.149; from 6.2 before 6.6.103; from 6.7 before 6.12.43 — fixed in 5.10.241, 5.15.190, 5.4.297, 6.1.149, 6.12.43, 6.15.11

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 5.10.241, 5.15.190, 5.4.297, 6.1.149. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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