Linux Kernel prior 6.12.26/6.14.5/6.15-rc4 btrfs __btrfs_add_free_space_zoned null pointer dereference

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.25/6.14.4/6.15-rc3/e91dab550dd1d2221333cac9f5c012ab5193696f. It has been rated as critical. This issue affects the function __btrfs_add_free_space_zoned of the component btrfs. This manipulation causes null pointer dereference. This vulnerability appears as CVE-2025-37827. There is no available exploit. Upgrading the affected component is advised.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.25/6.14.4/6.15-rc3/e91dab550dd1d2221333cac9f5c012ab5193696f and classified as critical. Affected by this vulnerability is the function __btrfs_add_free_space_zoned of the component btrfs. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a null pointer dereference vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-476. A NULL pointer dereference occurs when the application dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid, but is NULL, typically causing a crash or exit. As an impact it is known to affect availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: btrfs: zoned: return EIO on RAID1 block group write pointer mismatch There was a bug report about a NULL pointer dereference in __btrfs_add_free_space_zoned() that ultimately happens because a conversion from the default metadata profile DUP to a RAID1 profile on two disks. The stack trace has the following signature: BTRFS error (device sdc): zoned: write pointer offset mismatch of zones in raid1 profile BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000058 #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page PGD 0 P4D 0 Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP NOPTI RIP: 0010:__btrfs_add_free_space_zoned.isra.0+0x61/0x1a0 RSP: 0018:ffffa236b6f3f6d0 EFLAGS: 00010246 RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffff96c8132f3400 RCX: 0000000000000001 RDX: 0000000010000000 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: ffff96c8132f3410 RBP: 0000000010000000 R08: 0000000000000003 R09: 0000000000000000 R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 00000000ffffffff R12: 0000000000000000 R13: ffff96c758f65a40 R14: 0000000000000001 R15: 000011aac0000000 FS: 00007fdab1cb2900(0000) GS:ffff96e60ca00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 0000000000000058 CR3: 00000001a05ae000 CR4: 0000000000350ef0 Call Trace: <TASK> ? __die_body.cold+0x19/0x27 ? page_fault_oops+0x15c/0x2f0 ? exc_page_fault+0x7e/0x180 ? asm_exc_page_fault+0x26/0x30 ? __btrfs_add_free_space_zoned.isra.0+0x61/0x1a0 btrfs_add_free_space_async_trimmed+0x34/0x40 btrfs_add_new_free_space+0x107/0x120 btrfs_make_block_group+0x104/0x2b0 btrfs_create_chunk+0x977/0xf20 btrfs_chunk_alloc+0x174/0x510 ? srso_return_thunk+0x5/0x5f btrfs_inc_block_group_ro+0x1b1/0x230 btrfs_relocate_block_group+0x9e/0x410 btrfs_relocate_chunk+0x3f/0x130 btrfs_balance+0x8ac/0x12b0 ? srso_return_thunk+0x5/0x5f ? srso_return_thunk+0x5/0x5f ? __kmalloc_cache_noprof+0x14c/0x3e0 btrfs_ioctl+0x2686/0x2a80 ? srso_return_thunk+0x5/0x5f ? ioctl_has_perm.constprop.0.isra.0+0xd2/0x120 __x64_sys_ioctl+0x97/0xc0 do_syscall_64+0x82/0x160 ? srso_return_thunk+0x5/0x5f ? __memcg_slab_free_hook+0x11a/0x170 ? srso_return_thunk+0x5/0x5f ? kmem_cache_free+0x3f0/0x450 ? srso_return_thunk+0x5/0x5f ? srso_return_thunk+0x5/0x5f ? syscall_exit_to_user_mode+0x10/0x210 ? srso_return_thunk+0x5/0x5f ? do_syscall_64+0x8e/0x160 ? sysfs_emit+0xaf/0xc0 ? srso_return_thunk+0x5/0x5f ? srso_return_thunk+0x5/0x5f ? seq_read_iter+0x207/0x460 ? srso_return_thunk+0x5/0x5f ? vfs_read+0x29c/0x370 ? srso_return_thunk+0x5/0x5f ? srso_return_thunk+0x5/0x5f ? syscall_exit_to_user_mode+0x10/0x210 ? srso_return_thunk+0x5/0x5f ? do_syscall_64+0x8e/0x160 ? srso_return_thunk+0x5/0x5f ? exc_page_fault+0x7e/0x180 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e RIP: 0033:0x7fdab1e0ca6d RSP: 002b:00007ffeb2b60c80 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000010 RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 0000000000000003 RCX: 00007fdab1e0ca6d RDX: 00007ffeb2b60d80 RSI: 00000000c4009420 RDI: 0000000000000003 RBP: 00007ffeb2b60cd0 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000013 R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 0000000000000000 R13: 00007ffeb2b6343b R14: 00007ffeb2b60d80 R15: 0000000000000001 </TASK> CR2: 0000000000000058 ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- The 1st line is the most interesting here: BTRFS error (device sdc): zoned: write pointer offset mismatch of zones in raid1 profile When a RAID1 block-group is created and a write pointer mismatch between the disks in the RAID set is detected, btrfs sets the alloc_offset to the length of the block group marking it as full. Afterwards the code expects that a balance operation will evacuate the data in this block-group and repair the problems. But before this is possible, the new space of this block-group will be accounted in the free space cache. But in __btrfs_ ---truncated---

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2025-37827 since 04/16/2025. The exploitation appears to be difficult. Technical details are known, but no exploit is available.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 240657 (Ubuntu 25.04 : Linux kernel vulnerabilities (USN-7594-1)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.12.26, 6.14.5 or 6.15-rc4 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 9a447f748f6c7287dad68fa91913cd382fa0fcc8/f4717a02cc422cf4bb2dbb280b154a1ae65c5f84/b0c26f47992672661340dd6ea931240213016609 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 (240657) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-0975). Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

Affected

• 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
• Dell NetWorker
• Dell Secure Connect Gateway

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 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
• 6.12.24
• 6.12.25
• 6.14.0
• 6.14.1
• 6.14.2
• 6.14.3
• 6.14.4
• 6.15-rc1
• 6.15-rc2
• 6.15-rc3
• e91dab550dd1d2221333cac9f5c012ab5193696f

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

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Sourcesinfo

Entryinfo

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

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