How severe is CVE-2025-37738?

CVE-2025-37738 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 7.8, rated high severity. It is exploitable over local access with low attack complexity, requires low privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is high, integrity high, and availability high.

Is CVE-2025-37738 being actively exploited?

It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 0% (6th percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What products are affected by CVE-2025-37738?

CVE-2025-37738 primarily affects Linux Linux Kernel. In total, 2 product configurations (CPEs) are listed as vulnerable; see the affected-products list for the exact versions.

How do I fix CVE-2025-37738?

Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround. Given its high severity, prioritise patching exposed systems.

Does CVE-2025-37738 have an EU (EUVD) identifier?

Yes. CVE-2025-37738 is tracked in the ENISA EU Vulnerability Database (EUVD) as EUVD-2025-13077.

When was CVE-2025-37738 published?

CVE-2025-37738 was published on 2025-05-01 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

CVE-2025-37738

CVE-2025-37738 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel with a CVSS 3.x base score of 7.8. It is not currently listed as actively exploited by CISA, and its EPSS exploit-prediction score is low. The underlying weakness is classified as CWE-416.

Key facts

Severity: High (CVSS 3.x base score 7.8)
EPSS exploit prediction: 0% (6th percentile)
Actively exploited: Not listed in CISA KEV
EU (EUVD) id: EUVD-2025-13077
Weakness: CWE-416
Affected product: Linux Linux Kernel
Published: 2025-05-01
Last modified: 2026-06-17

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: ignore xattrs past end Once inside 'ext4_xattr_inode_dec_ref_all' we should ignore xattrs entries past the 'end' entry. This fixes the following KASAN reported issue: ================================================================== BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in ext4_xattr_inode_dec_ref_all+0xb8c/0xe90 Read of size 4 at addr ffff888012c120c4 by task repro/2065 CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 2065 Comm: repro Not tainted 6.13.0-rc2+ #11 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS rel-1.16.3-0-ga6ed6b701f0a-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 Call Trace: <TASK> dump_stack_lvl+0x1fd/0x300 ? tcp_gro_dev_warn+0x260/0x260 ? _printk+0xc0/0x100 ? read_lock_is_recursive+0x10/0x10 ? irq_work_queue+0x72/0xf0 ? __virt_addr_valid+0x17b/0x4b0 print_address_description+0x78/0x390 print_report+0x107/0x1f0 ? __virt_addr_valid+0x17b/0x4b0 ? __virt_addr_valid+0x3ff/0x4b0 ? __phys_addr+0xb5/0x160 ? ext4_xattr_inode_dec_ref_all+0xb8c/0xe90 kasan_report+0xcc/0x100 ? ext4_xattr_inode_dec_ref_all+0xb8c/0xe90 ext4_xattr_inode_dec_ref_all+0xb8c/0xe90 ? ext4_xattr_delete_inode+0xd30/0xd30 ? __ext4_journal_ensure_credits+0x5f0/0x5f0 ? __ext4_journal_ensure_credits+0x2b/0x5f0 ? inode_update_timestamps+0x410/0x410 ext4_xattr_delete_inode+0xb64/0xd30 ? ext4_truncate+0xb70/0xdc0 ? ext4_expand_extra_isize_ea+0x1d20/0x1d20 ? __ext4_mark_inode_dirty+0x670/0x670 ? ext4_journal_check_start+0x16f/0x240 ? ext4_inode_is_fast_symlink+0x2f2/0x3a0 ext4_evict_inode+0xc8c/0xff0 ? ext4_inode_is_fast_symlink+0x3a0/0x3a0 ? do_raw_spin_unlock+0x53/0x8a0 ? ext4_inode_is_fast_symlink+0x3a0/0x3a0 evict+0x4ac/0x950 ? proc_nr_inodes+0x310/0x310 ? trace_ext4_drop_inode+0xa2/0x220 ? _raw_spin_unlock+0x1a/0x30 ? iput+0x4cb/0x7e0 do_unlinkat+0x495/0x7c0 ? try_break_deleg+0x120/0x120 ? 0xffffffff81000000 ? __check_object_size+0x15a/0x210 ? strncpy_from_user+0x13e/0x250 ? getname_flags+0x1dc/0x530 __x64_sys_unlinkat+0xc8/0xf0 do_syscall_64+0x65/0x110 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x67/0x6f RIP: 0033:0x434ffd Code: 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 0f 1f 00 f3 0f 1e fa 48 89 f8 48 89 f7 48 89 d6 48 89 ca 4d 89 c2 4d 89 c8 8 RSP: 002b:00007ffc50fa7b28 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000107 RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00007ffc50fa7e18 RCX: 0000000000434ffd RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000020000240 RDI: 0000000000000005 RBP: 00007ffc50fa7be0 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000 R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 0000000000000001 R13: 00007ffc50fa7e08 R14: 00000000004bbf30 R15: 0000000000000001 </TASK> The buggy address belongs to the object at ffff888012c12000 which belongs to the cache filp of size 360 The buggy address is located 196 bytes inside of freed 360-byte region [ffff888012c12000, ffff888012c12168) The buggy address belongs to the physical page: page: refcount:1 mapcount:0 mapping:0000000000000000 index:0x0 pfn:0x12c12 head: order:1 mapcount:0 entire_mapcount:0 nr_pages_mapped:0 pincount:0 flags: 0x40(head|node=0|zone=0) page_type: f5(slab) raw: 0000000000000040 ffff888000ad7640 ffffea0000497a00 dead000000000004 raw: 0000000000000000 0000000000100010 00000001f5000000 0000000000000000 head: 0000000000000040 ffff888000ad7640 ffffea0000497a00 dead000000000004 head: 0000000000000000 0000000000100010 00000001f5000000 0000000000000000 head: 0000000000000001 ffffea00004b0481 ffffffffffffffff 0000000000000000 head: 0000000000000002 0000000000000000 00000000ffffffff 0000000000000000 page dumped because: kasan: bad access detected Memory state around the buggy address: ffff888012c11f80: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ffff888012c12000: fa fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb > ffff888012c12080: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb ^ ffff888012c12100: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fc fc fc ffff888012c12180: fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc ---truncated---

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2025-37738?: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: ignore xattrs past end Once inside 'ext4_xattr_inode_dec_ref_all' we should ignore xattrs entries past the 'end' entry. This fixes the following KASAN reported issue: ================================================================== BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in ext4_xattr_inode_dec_ref_all+0xb8c/0xe90 Read of size 4 at addr ffff888012c120c4 by task repro/2065 CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 2065 Comm: repro Not tainted 6.13.0-rc2+ #11 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS rel-1.16.3-0-ga6ed6b701f0a-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 Call Trace: <TASK> dump_stack_lvl+0x1fd/0x300 ? tcp_gro_dev_warn+0x260/0x260 ? _printk+0xc0/0x100 ? read_lock_is_recursive+0x10/0x10 ? irq_work_queue+0x72/0xf0 ? __virt_addr_valid+0x17b/0x4b0 print_address_description+0x78/0x390 print_report+0x107/0x1f0 ? __virt_addr_valid+0x17b/0x4b0 ? __virt_addr_valid+0x3ff/0x4b0 ? __phys_addr+0xb5/0x160 ? ext4_xattr_inode_dec_ref_all+0xb8c/0xe90 kasan_report+0xcc/0x100 ? ext4_xattr_inode_dec_ref_all+0xb8c/0xe90 ext4_xattr_inode_dec_ref_all+0xb8c/0xe90 ? ext4_xattr_delete_inode+0xd30/0xd30 ? __ext4_journal_ensure_credits+0x5f0/0x5f0 ? __ext4_journal_ensure_credits+0x2b/0x5f0 ? inode_update_timestamps+0x410/0x410 ext4_xattr_delete_inode+0xb64/0xd30 ? ext4_truncate+0xb70/0xdc0 ? ext4_expand_extra_isize_ea+0x1d20/0x1d20 ? __ext4_mark_inode_dirty+0x670/0x670 ? ext4_journal_check_start+0x16f/0x240 ? ext4_inode_is_fast_symlink+0x2f2/0x3a0 ext4_evict_inode+0xc8c/0xff0 ? ext4_inode_is_fast_symlink+0x3a0/0x3a0 ? do_raw_spin_unlock+0x53/0x8a0 ? ext4_inode_is_fast_symlink+0x3a0/0x3a0 evict+0x4ac/0x950 ? proc_nr_inodes+0x310/0x310 ? trace_ext4_drop_inode+0xa2/0x220 ? _raw_spin_unlock+0x1a/0x30 ? iput+0x4cb/0x7e0 do_unlinkat+0x495/0x7c0 ? try_break_deleg+0x120/0x120 ? 0xffffffff81000000 ? __check_object_size+0x15a/0x210 ? strncpy_from_user+0x13e/0x250 ? getname_flags+0x1dc/0x530 __x64_sys_unlinkat+0xc8/0xf0 do_syscall_64+0x65/0x110 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x67/0x6f RIP: 0033:0x434ffd Code: 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 0f 1f 00 f3 0f 1e fa 48 89 f8 48 89 f7 48 89 d6 48 89 ca 4d 89 c2 4d 89 c8 8 RSP: 002b:00007ffc50fa7b28 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000107 RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00007ffc50fa7e18 RCX: 0000000000434ffd RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000020000240 RDI: 0000000000000005 RBP: 00007ffc50fa7be0 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000 R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 0000000000000001 R13: 00007ffc50fa7e08 R14: 00000000004bbf30 R15: 0000000000000001 </TASK> The buggy address belongs to the object at ffff888012c12000 which belongs to the cache filp of size 360 The buggy address is located 196 bytes inside of freed 360-byte region [ffff888012c12000, ffff888012c12168) The buggy address belongs to the physical page: page: refcount:1 mapcount:0 mapping:0000000000000000 index:0x0 pfn:0x12c12 head: order:1 mapcount:0 entire_mapcount:0 nr_pages_mapped:0 pincount:0 flags: 0x40(head|node=0|zone=0) page_type: f5(slab) raw: 0000000000000040 ffff888000ad7640 ffffea0000497a00 dead000000000004 raw: 0000000000000000 0000000000100010 00000001f5000000 0000000000000000 head: 0000000000000040 ffff888000ad7640 ffffea0000497a00 dead000000000004 head: 0000000000000000 0000000000100010 00000001f5000000 0000000000000000 head: 0000000000000001 ffffea00004b0481 ffffffffffffffff 0000000000000000 head: 0000000000000002 0000000000000000 00000000ffffffff 0000000000000000 page dumped because: kasan: bad access detected Memory state around the buggy address: ffff888012c11f80: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ffff888012c12000: fa fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb > ffff888012c12080: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb ^ ffff888012c12100: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fc fc fc ffff888012c12180: fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc ---truncated---
How severe is CVE-2025-37738?: CVE-2025-37738 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 7.8, rated high severity. It is exploitable over local access with low attack complexity, requires low privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is high, integrity high, and availability high.
Is CVE-2025-37738 being actively exploited?: It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 0% (6th percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
What products are affected by CVE-2025-37738?: CVE-2025-37738 primarily affects Linux Linux Kernel. In total, 2 product configurations (CPEs) are listed as vulnerable; see the affected-products list for the exact versions.
How do I fix CVE-2025-37738?: Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround. Given its high severity, prioritise patching exposed systems.
Does CVE-2025-37738 have an EU (EUVD) identifier?: Yes. CVE-2025-37738 is tracked in the ENISA EU Vulnerability Database (EUVD) as EUVD-2025-13077.
When was CVE-2025-37738 published?: CVE-2025-37738 was published on 2025-05-01 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

References

Affected products (2)

cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

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