Linux Kernel up to 6.15-rc1 ext4 do_split use after free

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability categorized as critical has been discovered in Linux Kernel up to 6.15-rc1. This impacts the function do_split of the component ext4. Executing a manipulation can lead to use after free. This vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2025-23150. No exploit exists. It is advisable to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.15-rc1 and classified as critical. This vulnerability affects the function do_split of the component ext4. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a use after free vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-416. Referencing memory after it has been freed can cause a program to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: fix off-by-one error in do_split Syzkaller detected a use-after-free issue in ext4_insert_dentry that was caused by out-of-bounds access due to incorrect splitting in do_split. BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in ext4_insert_dentry+0x36a/0x6d0 fs/ext4/namei.c:2109 Write of size 251 at addr ffff888074572f14 by task syz-executor335/5847 CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 5847 Comm: syz-executor335 Not tainted 6.12.0-rc6-syzkaller-00318-ga9cda7c0ffed #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 10/30/2024 Call Trace: <TASK> __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:94 [inline] dump_stack_lvl+0x241/0x360 lib/dump_stack.c:120 print_address_description mm/kasan/report.c:377 [inline] print_report+0x169/0x550 mm/kasan/report.c:488 kasan_report+0x143/0x180 mm/kasan/report.c:601 kasan_check_range+0x282/0x290 mm/kasan/generic.c:189 __asan_memcpy+0x40/0x70 mm/kasan/shadow.c:106 ext4_insert_dentry+0x36a/0x6d0 fs/ext4/namei.c:2109 add_dirent_to_buf+0x3d9/0x750 fs/ext4/namei.c:2154 make_indexed_dir+0xf98/0x1600 fs/ext4/namei.c:2351 ext4_add_entry+0x222a/0x25d0 fs/ext4/namei.c:2455 ext4_add_nondir+0x8d/0x290 fs/ext4/namei.c:2796 ext4_symlink+0x920/0xb50 fs/ext4/namei.c:3431 vfs_symlink+0x137/0x2e0 fs/namei.c:4615 do_symlinkat+0x222/0x3a0 fs/namei.c:4641 __do_sys_symlink fs/namei.c:4662 [inline] __se_sys_symlink fs/namei.c:4660 [inline] __x64_sys_symlink+0x7a/0x90 fs/namei.c:4660 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 </TASK> The following loop is located right above 'if' statement. for (i = count-1; i >= 0; i--) { /* is more than half of this entry in 2nd half of the block? */ if (size + map[i].size/2 > blocksize/2) break; size += map[i].size; move++; } 'i' in this case could go down to -1, in which case sum of active entries wouldn't exceed half the block size, but previous behaviour would also do split in half if sum would exceed at the very last block, which in case of having too many long name files in a single block could lead to out-of-bounds access and following use-after-free. Found by Linux Verification Center (linuxtesting.org) with Syzkaller.

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability was named CVE-2025-23150 since 01/11/2025. The exploitation appears to be easy. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $0-$5k (estimation calculated on 03/15/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 237255 (Debian dla-4178 : ata-modules-5.10.0-34-armmp-di - security update), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.1.135, 6.6.88, 6.12.24, 6.13.12, 6.14.3 or 6.15-rc2 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 35d0aa6db9d93307085871ceab8a729594a98162/2eeb1085bf7bd5c7ba796ca4119925fa5d336a3f/16d9067f00e3a7d1df7c3aa9c20d214923d27e10/17df39f455f1289319d4d09e4826aa46852ffd17/ab0cc5c25552ae0d20eae94b40a93be11b080fc5/94824ac9a8aaf2fb3c54b4bdde842db80ffa555d 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 (237255) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-0922). VulDB is the best source for vulnerability data and more expert information about this specific topic.

Affected

• Google Container-Optimized OS
• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• SUSE openSUSE
• RESF Rocky Linux
• Dell Avamar
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• IBM DataPower Gateway
• Dell NetWorker
• Dell Secure Connect Gateway

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.1.134
• 6.6.0
• 6.6.1
• 6.6.2
• 6.6.3
• 6.6.4
• 6.6.5
• 6.6.6
• 6.6.7
• 6.6.8
• 6.6.9
• 6.6.10
• 6.6.11
• 6.6.12
• 6.6.13
• 6.6.14
• 6.6.15
• 6.6.16
• 6.6.17
• 6.6.18
• 6.6.19
• 6.6.20
• 6.6.21
• 6.6.22
• 6.6.23
• 6.6.24
• 6.6.25
• 6.6.26
• 6.6.27
• 6.6.28
• 6.6.29
• 6.6.30
• 6.6.31
• 6.6.32
• 6.6.33
• 6.6.34
• 6.6.35
• 6.6.36
• 6.6.37
• 6.6.38
• 6.6.39
• 6.6.40
• 6.6.41
• 6.6.42
• 6.6.43
• 6.6.44
• 6.6.45
• 6.6.46
• 6.6.47
• 6.6.48
• 6.6.49
• 6.6.50
• 6.6.51
• 6.6.52
• 6.6.53
• 6.6.54
• 6.6.55
• 6.6.56
• 6.6.57
• 6.6.58
• 6.6.59
• 6.6.60
• 6.6.61
• 6.6.62
• 6.6.63
• 6.6.64
• 6.6.65
• 6.6.66
• 6.6.67
• 6.6.68
• 6.6.69
• 6.6.70
• 6.6.71
• 6.6.72
• 6.6.73
• 6.6.74
• 6.6.75
• 6.6.76
• 6.6.77
• 6.6.78
• 6.6.79
• 6.6.80
• 6.6.81
• 6.6.82
• 6.6.83
• 6.6.84
• 6.6.85
• 6.6.86
• 6.6.87
• 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
• 6.12.13
• 6.12.14
• 6.12.15
• 6.12.16
• 6.12.17
• 6.12.18
• 6.12.19
• 6.12.20
• 6.12.21
• 6.12.22
• 6.12.23
• 6.13.0
• 6.13.1
• 6.13.2
• 6.13.3
• 6.13.4
• 6.13.5
• 6.13.6
• 6.13.7
• 6.13.8
• 6.13.9
• 6.13.10
• 6.13.11
• 6.14.0
• 6.14.1
• 6.14.2
• 6.15-rc1

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Entryinfo

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