Linux Kernel up to 6.1.128/6.12.12/6.13.1 fs/buffer.c mark_buffer_dirty use after free

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.1.128/6.12.12/6.13.1. Impacted is the function mark_buffer_dirty of the file fs/buffer.c. Performing a manipulation results in use after free. This vulnerability was named CVE-2025-21722. There is no available exploit. It is advisable to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.1.128/6.12.12/6.13.1. It has been classified as critical. This affects the function mark_buffer_dirty of the file fs/buffer.c. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a use after free vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-416. Referencing memory after it has been freed can cause a program to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: nilfs2: do not force clear folio if buffer is referenced Patch series "nilfs2: protect busy buffer heads from being force-cleared". This series fixes the buffer head state inconsistency issues reported by syzbot that occurs when the filesystem is corrupted and falls back to read-only, and the associated buffer head use-after-free issue. This patch (of 2): Syzbot has reported that after nilfs2 detects filesystem corruption and falls back to read-only, inconsistencies in the buffer state may occur. One of the inconsistencies is that when nilfs2 calls mark_buffer_dirty() to set a data or metadata buffer as dirty, but it detects that the buffer is not in the uptodate state: WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 6049 at fs/buffer.c:1177 mark_buffer_dirty+0x2e5/0x520 fs/buffer.c:1177 ... Call Trace: nilfs_palloc_commit_alloc_entry+0x4b/0x160 fs/nilfs2/alloc.c:598 nilfs_ifile_create_inode+0x1dd/0x3a0 fs/nilfs2/ifile.c:73 nilfs_new_inode+0x254/0x830 fs/nilfs2/inode.c:344 nilfs_mkdir+0x10d/0x340 fs/nilfs2/namei.c:218 vfs_mkdir+0x2f9/0x4f0 fs/namei.c:4257 do_mkdirat+0x264/0x3a0 fs/namei.c:4280 __do_sys_mkdirat fs/namei.c:4295 [inline] __se_sys_mkdirat fs/namei.c:4293 [inline] __x64_sys_mkdirat+0x87/0xa0 fs/namei.c:4293 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:52 [inline] do_syscall_64+0xf3/0x230 arch/x86/entry/common.c:83 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f The other is when nilfs_btree_propagate(), which propagates the dirty state to the ancestor nodes of a b-tree that point to a dirty buffer, detects that the origin buffer is not dirty, even though it should be: WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 5245 at fs/nilfs2/btree.c:2089 nilfs_btree_propagate+0xc79/0xdf0 fs/nilfs2/btree.c:2089 ... Call Trace: nilfs_bmap_propagate+0x75/0x120 fs/nilfs2/bmap.c:345 nilfs_collect_file_data+0x4d/0xd0 fs/nilfs2/segment.c:587 nilfs_segctor_apply_buffers+0x184/0x340 fs/nilfs2/segment.c:1006 nilfs_segctor_scan_file+0x28c/0xa50 fs/nilfs2/segment.c:1045 nilfs_segctor_collect_blocks fs/nilfs2/segment.c:1216 [inline] nilfs_segctor_collect fs/nilfs2/segment.c:1540 [inline] nilfs_segctor_do_construct+0x1c28/0x6b90 fs/nilfs2/segment.c:2115 nilfs_segctor_construct+0x181/0x6b0 fs/nilfs2/segment.c:2479 nilfs_segctor_thread_construct fs/nilfs2/segment.c:2587 [inline] nilfs_segctor_thread+0x69e/0xe80 fs/nilfs2/segment.c:2701 kthread+0x2f0/0x390 kernel/kthread.c:389 ret_from_fork+0x4b/0x80 arch/x86/kernel/process.c:147 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:244 Both of these issues are caused by the callbacks that handle the page/folio write requests, forcibly clear various states, including the working state of the buffers they hold, at unexpected times when they detect read-only fallback. Fix these issues by checking if the buffer is referenced before clearing the page/folio state, and skipping the clear if it is.

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2025-21722 since 12/29/2024. The exploitability is told to be easy. Technical details are known, but no exploit is available. The price for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 05/25/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 233595 (Debian dla-4102 : linux-config-6.1 - security update), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.1.129, 6.12.13, 6.13.2 or 6.14-rc1 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 19296737024cd220a1d6590bf4c092bca8c99497/1098bb8d52419d262a3358d099a1598a920b730f/557ccf5e49f1fb848a29698585bcab2e50a597ef/ca76bb226bf47ff04c782cacbd299f12ddee1ec1 is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (233595) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-0453). Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

Affected

• Google Container-Optimized OS
• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• Siemens SIMATIC S7
• RESF Rocky Linux
• Dell NetWorker
• Dell Avamar
• Red Hat OpenShift
• IBM QRadar SIEM
• SolarWinds Security Event Manager
• Dell PowerProtect Data Domain
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• IBM DataPower Gateway
• Dell Secure Connect Gateway
• Dell PowerScale OneFS
• Dell ECS

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.1.128
• 6.12.0
• 6.12.1
• 6.12.2
• 6.12.3
• 6.12.4
• 6.12.5
• 6.12.6
• 6.12.7
• 6.12.8
• 6.12.9
• 6.12.10
• 6.12.11
• 6.12.12
• 6.13.0
• 6.13.1

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Exploitinginfo

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Countermeasuresinfo

Timelineinfo

Sourcesinfo

Entryinfo

Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

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