CVE-2025-38163 | f2fs: fix to do sanity check on sbi->total_valid_block_count

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: f2fs: fix to do sanity check on sbi->total_valid_block_count syzbot reported a f2fs bug as below: ------------[ cut here ]------------ kernel BUG at fs/f2fs/f2fs.h:2521! RIP: 0010:dec_valid_block_count+0x3b2/0x3c0 fs/f2fs/f2fs.h:2521 Call Trace: f2fs_truncate_data_blocks_range+0xc8c/0x11a0 fs/f2fs/file.c:695 truncate_dnode+0x417/0x740 fs/f2fs/node.c:973 truncate_nodes+0x3ec/0xf50 fs/f2fs/node.c:1014 f2fs_truncate_inode_blocks+0x8e3/0x1370 fs/f2fs/node.c:1197 f2fs_do_truncate_blocks+0x840/0x12b0 fs/f2fs/file.c:810 f2fs_truncate_blocks+0x10d/0x300 fs/f2fs/file.c:838 f2fs_truncate+0x417/0x720 fs/f2fs/file.c:888 f2fs_setattr+0xc4f/0x12f0 fs/f2fs/file.c:1112 notify_change+0xbca/0xe90 fs/attr.c:552 do_truncate+0x222/0x310 fs/open.c:65 handle_truncate fs/namei.c:3466 [inline] do_open fs/namei.c:3849 [inline] path_openat+0x2e4f/0x35d0 fs/namei.c:4004 do_filp_open+0x284/0x4e0 fs/namei.c:4031 do_sys_openat2+0x12b/0x1d0 fs/open.c:1429 do_sys_open fs/open.c:1444 [inline] __do_sys_creat fs/open.c:1522 [inline] __se_sys_creat fs/open.c:1516 [inline] __x64_sys_creat+0x124/0x170 fs/open.c:1516 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline] do_syscall_64+0xf3/0x230 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94 The reason is: in fuzzed image, sbi->total_valid_block_count is inconsistent w/ mapped blocks indexed by inode, so, we should not trigger panic for such case, instead, let's print log and set fsck flag.

Published: 2025-07-03 Last update: 2025-12-18 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-38163 is rated Low Risk (31.9/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.10%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2025-38163

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-04-29 0.03% 0.10% +0.07%
2 2025-12-19 0.05% 0.03% -0.02%
3 2025-10-17 0.05%

Full EPSS history (4 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-38163

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
1.8 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-38163

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-38163

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2025-38163 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 2 source packages (linux, linux-6.1), 6 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 6. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-38163
redhat https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38163
suse medium CVE-2025-38163 severity moderate: SUSE including 26 source package names (cluster-md-kmp-default, dlm-kmp-default, …), 281 product×package rows across 55 product lines (SLES-LTSS-TERADATA 15 SP2, SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7, … (55 product lines)): Known Not Affected 281. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-38163/
ubuntu medium CVE-2025-38163 medium priority: Ubuntu including 158 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1551 status rows across 10 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1145, released 169, ignored 168, needed 45, not-affected 21, needs-triage 2, pending 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-38163

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-38163

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 3.8, < 5.4.295 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.5, < 5.10.239 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.11, < 5.15.186 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.16, < 6.1.142 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.2, < 6.6.94 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.7, < 6.12.34 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.13, < 6.15.3 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 11.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2025-38163

URL Tags
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/05872a167c2cab80ef186ef23cc34a6776a1a30c Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/25f3776b58c1c45ad2e50ab4b263505b4d2378ca Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/49bc7bf38e42cfa642787e947f5721696ea73ac3 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/65b3f76592aed5a43c4d79375ac097acf975972b Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6a324d77f7ea1a91d55c4b6ad970e3ac9ab6a20d Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a39cc43efc1bca74ed9d6cf9e60b995071f7d178 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ccc28c0397f75a3ec9539cceed9db014d7b73869 Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f1b743c1955151bd392539b739a3ad155296be13 Patch
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/10/msg00007.html Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/10/msg00008.html Third Party Advisory
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