Vulnerability in Linux

CVE-2025-38701

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: do not BUG when INLINE_DATA_FL lacks system.data xattr A syzbot fuzzed image triggered a BUG_ON in ext4_update_inline_data() when an inode had the INLINE_DATA_FL flag set but was missing the system.data extended attribute. Since this can happen due to a maiciouly fuzzed file system, we shouldn't BUG, but rather, report it as a corrupted file system. Add similar replacements of BUG_ON with EXT4_ERROR_INODE() ii ext4_create_inline_data() and ext4_inline_data_truncate().

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 5.5 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.002 (6.9th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 7th percentile — 6.9% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2025-38701: held from 0.002 to 0.002.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.002 · newest: 0.002 · change: +0.000

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2025-38701?
CVE-2025-38701 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under Reachable Assertion. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2025-09-04.
How severe is CVE-2025-38701?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.
Is CVE-2025-38701 known to be exploited?
1 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.