CVE-2025-38338

Source
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-38338
Import Source
https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2025-38338.json
JSON Data
https://api.osv.dev/v1/vulns/CVE-2025-38338
Downstream
Related
Published
2025-07-10T09:15:28Z
Modified
2025-07-10T16:00:21Z
Summary
[none]
Details

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

fs/nfs/read: fix double-unlock bug in nfsreturnempty_folio()

Sometimes, when a file was read while it was being truncated by another NFS client, the kernel could deadlock because folio_unlock() was called twice, and the second call would XOR back the PG_locked flag.

Most of the time (depending on the timing of the truncation), nobody notices the problem because folio_unlock() gets called three times, which flips PG_locked back off:

  1. vfsread, nfsreadfolio, ... nfsreadaddfolio, nfsreturnempty_folio
  2. vfsread, nfsreadfolio, ... netfsreadcollection, netfsunlockabandonedread_pages
  3. vfsread, ... nfsdoreadfolio, nfsreadaddfolio, nfsreturnemptyfolio

The problem is that nfsreadaddfolio() is not supposed to unlock the folio if fscache is enabled, and a nfsnetfsfoliounlock() check is missing in nfsreturnempty_folio().

Rarely this leads to a warning in netfsreadcollection():

------------[ cut here ]------------ R=0000031c: folio 10 is not locked WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 29 at fs/netfs/readcollect.c:133 netfsreadcollection+0x7c0/0xf00 [...] Workqueue: eventsunbound netfsreadcollectionworker RIP: 0010:netfsreadcollection+0x7c0/0xf00 [...] Call Trace: <TASK> netfsreadcollectionworker+0x67/0x80 processonework+0x12e/0x2c0 worker_thread+0x295/0x3a0

Most of the time, however, processes just get stuck forever in foliowaitbit_common(), waiting for PG_locked to disappear, which never happens because nobody is really holding the folio lock.

References

Affected packages

Debian:13 / linux

Package

Name
linux
Purl
pkg:deb/debian/linux?arch=source

Affected ranges

Type
ECOSYSTEM
Events
Introduced
0Unknown introduced version / All previous versions are affected
Fixed
6.12.35-1

Ecosystem specific

{
    "urgency": "not yet assigned"
}