CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2025-38221 — Linux Linux Kernel security vulnerability

High CVSS 7.1

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: fix out of bounds punch offset Punching a hole with a start offset that exceeds max_end is not permitted and will result in a negative length in the truncate_inode_partial_folio() function while truncating the page cache, potentially leading to undesirable consequences. A simple reproducer: truncate -s 9895604649994 /mnt/foo xfs_io -c "pwrite 8796093022208 4096" /mnt/foo xfs_io -c "fpunch 8796093022213 25769803777" /mnt/foo kernel BUG at include/linux/highmem.h:275! Oops: invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] SMP PTI CPU: 3 UID: 0 PID: 710 Comm: xfs_io Not tainted 6.15.0-rc3 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.16.3-2.fc40 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:zero_user_segments.constprop.0+0xd7/0x110 RSP: 0018:ffffc90001cf3b38 EFLAGS: 00010287 RAX: 0000000000000005 RBX: ffffea0001485e40 RCX: 0000000000001000 RDX: 000000000040b000 RSI: 0000000000000005 RDI: 000000000040b000 RBP: 000000000040affb R08: ffff888000000000 R09: ffffea0000000000 R10: 0000000000000003 R11: 00000000fffc7fc5 R12: 0000000000000005 R13: 000000000040affb R14: ffffea0001485e40 R15: ffff888031cd3000 FS: 00007f4f63d0b780(0000) GS:ffff8880d337d0…

Severity
High
CVSS
7.1 (3.1)
Published
2025-07-04
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
linux/kernel
Weaknesses
CWE-125

Affected products

  • linux / linux_kernel

Matched remediation archetype

Buffer bounds, memory safety, and memory corruption

This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.

Check exposure

  • Identify affected native-code versions, build flags, architectures, parsers, codecs, drivers, and input paths in all shipped artifacts.
  • Determine whether untrusted data reaches the affected routine and the process privilege, sandbox, and network exposure.
  • Confirm statically linked, vendored, firmware, and platform-provided copies, not only package-manager records.

Remediate safely

  • Apply the maintained upstream correction or replace the affected component, then rebuild every dependent artifact from clean inputs.
  • Adopt bounds-checked interfaces, validated sizes and integer conversions, clear ownership, and memory-safe components where practical.
  • Enable supported compiler and runtime hardening and add sanitized tests and fuzz regression seeds derived from non-weaponized fixtures.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

The detailed catalog view below loads this exact record, its source evidence, and the full seven-phase agentic change plan.